Don't Go!
by Infamoushogwartsjaguar394
Summary: Max and the Flock Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and Ella lead normal lives. This is the story of how Fang and Max came together. Everything seems perfect, but what happens when complications arise? Will Fang leave? Read to find out, because I'm evil like that.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the characters. Also any songs, bands, books, or brand names mentioned do not belong to me.**

Chapter 1

I'd like to say that life went on after Fang left. That I moved on. But I would be 've only been dating for a few months, but I've known him for five years. We met in middle school, and slowly became friends. It was just one of those things you know? When two completely different people become best friends. He lived in my neighborhood, so we spent a lot of time with each other. He was practically my brother, and he knew me as well as I know myself. Maybe even better. Confused? Keep reading, I'll tell you the story starting from last fall, beginning of tenth grade.

* * *

"Hey Max, what do you think of this outfit?" asked Nudge, my adopted sister. Her real name is Monique, but she likes to be called Nudge, I have no idea why. She has mocha colored skin, brown eyes, curly, dark brown hair, and a bubbly personality. She loves fashion and talks constantly. I looked up from my lunch, two grilled cheese sandwiches, to see what she was wearing. She had on a orange shirt with a multicolored blue, orange, and green skirt, the kind that are shorter in the front and longer in the back, and wedges. She looked good, better than I ever do.

"You look awesome!" I said, smiling.

"Yay!" she squealed happily. "You know, I can help you pick something to wear tomorrow, if you want."

"No thanks, Nudge." I replied. "It's just school, no one really cares what you wear." The first day of school was tomorrow, and Nudge has been freaking out for the past week about what she would wear. I didn't really care about clothes, and would probably just wear jeans and a plain t-shirt.

"Gasp! Of course people care about what you wear! Do you want them to look at you and think 'why is she wearing such boring clothes?' No! You want to be known for your fashion sense! I'm helping you whether you like it or not!" She said with her hands on her hips. "C'mon, lets go look at your clothes." She added when I didn't respond, and grabbed my hand to drag me upstairs. I pouted, "But my lunch!" I whined. Did I mention my love of food? I lovelovelove it!

"Bring it with you." She said, walking towards the staircase. "I'll meet you upstairs."

I took as long as I possibly could to grab my plate and walk up the stairs to my room. I took at least 10 minutes, because a) I really didn't want to do this and b) Our house is huge. I mean huge. My dad, Jeb, is a really successful scientist, so he makes a lot of money, and my mom is a vet. Lets just say we're pretty comfortable in the money department. When I finally got to my room, I saw Nudge tearing through my drawers and closet, looking for something pretty and probably sparkly, that I don't own. My other sister Ella, was sitting on my bed watching Nudge rip apart my room in her fruitless search. Ella has long, brown hair, tan skin, and pretty brown eyes. She looks more hispanic, like my mom.

"You. Have. Nothing. Nice. To. Wear!" Nudge exclaimed angrily, glaring at me. "Didn't I make you buy nice clothes?"

"I might have possibly returned them because I knew I would never wear them." I said with a 'sorry' face.

"Ugh!" She said, frustrated. Then she looked me up and down. "We're around the same size... Maybe you can borrow my clothes."

"But I'm like four inches taller than you!" I exclaimed.

"Then we'll just have to go shopping." She replied. "And this time you will not return the clothes I make you get."

I gave in, there was no changing Nudge's mind once she decided something. There was a mall five minutes from our house, so Ella, Nudge, and I rode our bikes. I'll spare you the details, but there was much whining, complaining, anger, and stubbornness, mostly mine. But finally, finally we were done and rode home. Nudge and Ella had tons of bags and I had four, that Nudge forced me to get. That's a lot for me. My outfit will not be revealed until later, because I wanna keep you hanging. But I'll give you a few hints: It's something I would never wear normally, and is, in my opinion, too nice for school.

I was so not looking forward to school tomorrow.

**A/N: So, this is my first story on FF. So, I hope you like it... Yeah, that's about it. I don't want to beg for comments, but they are appreciated! **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! I hoped you liked the first chapter! I know it was kind of short, I just wanted to see if people would like it. I want to try to update at least twice a week. I'm kinda busy right now, so I don't have too much time for writing. I try to make the chapters as long as I can. So, here's chapter 2! Read away.**

"MAX! Wake up!" a voice yelled in my ear, and a hand was shaking me.

"Ugh," I groaned. Why is someone waking me up so early?

"Max, c'mon, school today," my mom said. Oh, yeah. School. Yay. Note the sarcasm.

"Ok, ok. I'm getting up," I muttered and rolled onto my back. My mom didn't leave my room though. "Why are you still here?" I asked.

"Because if I leave you'll just go back to sleep," she replied, smiling.

"Well feel free to watch me get up and shuffle over to the bathroom," I said jokingly. I did just that, and I didn't trip over anything for once, yay! Great way to start a day. I took a quick shower which didn't succeed in waking me up, and walked back to my room. I took out the outfit Nudge was forcing me into wearing and put it on, except the shoes, so I didn't fall down the stairs. Halfway down, I smelled waffles and bacon. Yum! Maybe the day wouldn't be so bad after all. I saw Nudge sitting at the table talking Ella's ear off, as usual, Ella looked half asleep, just like I felt.

"OMG! You look awesome! But why aren't you wearing the shoes?" Nudge said rapidly.

I just blinked at her stupidly, too tired to understand her jabbering. "Again, slower please." I requested.

"You. Look. Great. Why. Aren't. You. Wearing. The. Shoes?" she repeated with exaggerated slowness.

"Oh, ok. I'm gonna wear the shoes, sadly, I just didn't want to fall down the stairs and break my neck." I explained. While walking over to my breakfast I, wait for it, tripped. I think I jinxed it earlier. I looked down and saw a tube of lip gloss. "Nudge, do you want to kill me?" I asked.

"Oops! Sorry. I didn't realize I dropped that." She said apologetically and came over to help me up.

"Thanks, just don't do that again," I glared at her, but she was used to it, and just smiled.

Finally, I sat down and started eating. Yum, bacon. Why is it so delicious?

"You girls ready for your first day of school?" My mom asked.

"I think so." Nudge said. "I mean, I have my outfit, my cute backpack, my cute notebooks, my cute binders, my cute book covers, my cute pencil case, with matching cute pens and pencils, and-"

"We get it, cute stuff!" Ella said. "Mom, please please please try not to ask her questions."

"Yeah, you can turn her on, but you can't turn her off," I agreed. Sorta like a TV... The Nudge Channel! I just thought of that, and its early! Maybe I do my best thinking in the morning. "Nudge, your mouth is now the Nudge Channel!" I declared.

"That's a good one," my mom said. "So, you all have everything?"

"Yup!" Ella told her. "All ready for the eighth grade!"

"Me too!" Nudge exclaimed. "Like I said, I have a lot of cute things."

"Yes, we know. I'm ready too, but I don't want to be." I said, finishing the last of my bacon.

"Ok, you should probably leave for the bus soon, so you don't miss it your first day," My mom cautioned.

"Yep! Let's do this thing!" Nudge said happily. I got up and stepped into my shoes, and looked around. I'm not used to being this tall! I wobbled a little, but eventually got the hang of it. I still don't think I'm made for heels. Or wedges. Whatever. Oh! I need to tell you about my outfit, don't I? So my top is a gray tank top with rhinestones on the chest, Nudge loves anything that sparkles. I'm wearing a flowy purple skirt that reaches the top of my knees, and black ankle boots that are wedges. Don't ask me how Nudge got me to wear those, lets just say it involved threatening blackmail. We actually got to the bus stop without me falling! I saw Iggy, Maya, and Dylan. Everyone says that Maya and I look alike, but I don't see it. Iggy turned around and saw us.

"Hey! Max, you look like a girl!" he yelled happily.

"You can thank Nudge for that." I replied. "How are you?"

"Great!" Iggy said. "Ready for school, excited to learn."

"You're so weird." I said with a smile. "And you guys?" I directed at Maya and Dylan.

"Good." Dylan replied. And Maya said, "Yup!" They're dating. Dylan looks like a model, blonde hair, blue green eyes. Cute, but not my type. Iggy is around six foot, super skinny, has strawberry blonde hair,and bright, blue eyes. His real name is James, but he absolutely loves fire and explosives, so he nicknamed himelf Iggy, short for ignite. I turned back to Iggy, Nudge, and Ella. Nudge was looking at herself in a mirror, which was ridiculous, because she did that before we left, about three minutes ago. Ella was talking to Iggy eagerly, suddenly wide awake. Hmmm.

"Hey," a voice said from behind me.

"Don't do that!" I yelled, slapping Fang. He's tall around six foot, has longish, black hair, olive skin, wears mostly black, and is quiet.

"What? Say hello?" He asked with a smirk.

"You know what I mean! And you don't deserve a hello!" I said with a smile playing at my lips.

"And why not?" He asked, playing along.

"Because-" I began to say when the bus pulled up, saving me from inventing some reason to not say hi.

We got on the bus and I took my usual seat next to Fang. Fang always got the window side, because Mr. Quiet says, "I like the scenery." So I let him have it. Fang is non-talkative during the bus ride, mind you he's normally silent, but on bus rides he won't talk at all, he's just antisocial. I normally spend this time talking to other people, but today I decided to interrogate Ella about Iggy.

I pulled out my phone and typed, _So el, wats up w/ u & ig?_

I looked up from my phone to watch Ella pull out her phone, read the text and blush slightly.

_Nothing_, she replied.

_Rite, & thats why u blushed_, I told her.

I watched her blush again and type furiously.

_grr... fine u win, i like him, ok?_ she admitted.

_ha, i knew it!_ I told her

_watevs_, she replied.

I smiled and put my phone away and looked around to find Fang watching me.

"Who you texting?" he asked.

"Ella." I replied, trying not to look embarrased.

"You don't get the chance to talk to her at home?" He asked with a half smile that made me blush. Darn it!

"Uh, well..." I stammered.

"Spit it out," he said.

"Shewasreallytiredthismorning andperkedupwhenshewastalking toIggyandIwantedtoknowwhy," I said really fast, sounding like Nudge.

"Please repeat that slower," he said smirking.

"Ella was really sleepy this morning and perked up when she was talking to Iggy, I wanted to know why," I told him at a normal pace.

"Oh, that makes sense," He told me. "So what did she say?"

"She likes him," I told him with a smirk.

A strange unFang-like smirk/grin appeared his face.

"If you say anything to anyone I will murder you." I threatened.

"I've got something better," Fang said, still smirking the weird grin/smirk thing.

He leaned over and began whispering in my ear. His breath tickled. Focus Max! I mentally slapped myself. When he was finished, I'm pretty sure my smile looked like his. It was pure brilliance, his plan, even though there wasn't much base to it. I took out my phone and texted Nudge, _Go 2 Fang's house after school, we need u._

The bus rolled to a stop outside the school and I put my phone away. I got off, probably still grinning like an idiot.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I'm gonna skip over telling you about school. We just did typical first day stuff, intros, what we're gonna learn this year, blah, blah, blah. No one cares. So Fang and I walked to his house once we got off the bus, I had texted my mom earlier so she wouldn't worry. We had just stepped in the door when Nudge ran up behind us. How can she run in those shoes?

"OMGOMGOMG! What's going on? I was super excited all day!" She looked at me accusingly.

"Sorry, I didn't have time to explain." I replied.

"Well, tell me!" She practically yelled.

"Ok, ok, calm down and come inside." I said, laughing. We sat down in Fang's living room. Its full of huge, comfy chairs and couches, I love it! His mom came walked in, smiling.

"Hey Max, Nudge! how was your first day of school?" she asked cheerfully.

"It's ok, just act like your only son isn't here." Fang said.

"Sorry, how was your day Fang?" she asked, smiling.

He shrugged. Why did he make a big deal out of it if he wasn't even going to say anything? Sometimes I really don't understand him. Shaking her head Mrs. Xavian turned back to us. Nice last name, huh? It's pronounced avian, like a bird. Her first name is Alice, which she tells us to call her.

"Anyway, how was school?" she asked again.

"It was ok, you know, school-like." I said nonchalantly.

"It was great!" you guessed it, Nudge said. "Tons of people liked my outfit, and my stuff, cause it's all cute, and I have friends in all my classes, all my teachers are nice, and-"

"That's great!" Alice said, cutting Nudge off. She knew how talkative she was. "Do you guys want snacks? Drinks?" She asked.

"Do you have lemonade?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I'll have some too," Nudge said.

"Water." Fang requested.

"Ok," she said, "I'll be right back."

About two minutes later, she sat our drinks down in front of us. "Thanks!" Nudge and I said.

"You're welcome." She replied with a smile.

"FANG!" Tell your mother thank you!" Nudge demanded.

"Thanks." He said to his mom, and took a sip of his water. I smiled, isn't Nudge so sweet?

"So, what are we here for?" Nudge asked. "This better be good."

Again I explained about Iggy and Ella, and how she liked him. Nudge squealed. "I knew it! They're so cute together." I dutifully agreed and continued.

"So, Fang here had a brilliant plan, we should set them up, ideas?" I asked.

"Um... what do they both like?" Nudge asked, thinking.

"Music?" Fang said. Brilliant! I don't know how he does it.

"Yes! Perfect." I declared. "Ok, so Nudge and I can take Ella to a concert, where we just happen to run into you and Iggy, we magically disappear, and they're left alone, realize they're perfect together, and start dating!" Wow, I really need to stop hanging out with Nudge.

Fang raised his eyebrows at this un-Maxlike statement. "Ok, so what band?"

"Ugh, there are so many good bands!" I said exasperatedly.

"Lets make a list." Nudge suggested. She pulled out a colorful binder and a sparkly pen. Too bright! She wrote Bands across the top and looked up at me and Fang. "Ok, start naming bands.

There were so many, I'm not even going to try to tell you all of them, but we finally narrowed it down to three.

"Ok, we got Parachute, All time Low, and Shinedown." I said. "Lets vote on it."

Nudge said Parachute, because they do a lot of love songs, but I said that would be too obvious.

Fang and I wanted Shinedown, because they're really good, but Nudge said that they're songs were too depressing. So, in the end, All Time Low won, because let's admit it, they're awesome, and we were all pretty sure that Ella and Iggy liked most of their songs. Now we just had to get... One, two, three, four, five tickets! That should be easy, right? Actually, it was! Surprising, huh? There was a concert at the end of September, about half an hour away. And the tickets weren't sold out yet! See, Iggy and Ella were meant to be together! Oh. My. God. I am turning into Nudge! Someone help me!

We bought the tickets, and Fang's mom came in with popcorn. I love popcorn! Its amazing. Like, grits, with high self esteem. I pretty sure I ate more than half of it by myself, Fang and Nudge had a pretty hard time getting to the bowl. They glared at me after they finished the little bit that was left.

"Sorry," I apologized, blushing slightly. "I just really like popcorn."

"Not, just popcorn." Nudge corrected. "All food in general."

I smiled and Fang gave a little smirk. I checked my phone. It was already 5:30! We could've been late for dinner! That would be horrible. "Hey, dinners soon, can't be late." I said to Nudge, then turned to Fang, "Bye!" He waved, and I called, "Thank you, and bye!" in the direction of the kitchen, and Alice replied, "You're welcome, bye girls!" I love her, it's like I have two moms.

Nudge and I walked to our house, which was right across the street. She was talking the entire way, but I tuned her out, its become a habit. Suddenly I realized she was yelling, "Max! Max! Earth to Max! Hello?"

"What?" I asked, shaken out of my daydream.

"I asked you five times if anyone like your outfit today." she said, hurt.

"Oh, sorry. Lost in thought. Um, you heard Iggy, Fang said practically the same thing, J.J. said she liked it and asked where I got it, so I told her and said it was all you, Tess said I looked good, Lynn loved my shoes... I think that's it." I concluded.

"Yay!" She exclaimed, grinning. "I'm awesome, a genius! I should be a designer."

"Yeah!" I agreed. "You'd be great." That's me, supportive older sister. We went inside, and I whispered to Nudge, "Remember, not a word to Ella, comprende?"

She nodded and went upstairs. I followed her, taking off my shoes as I went. My feet were killing me. How did Nudge do it? I got to my room and put my backpack down, then I heard my mom call, "Dinner's ready!" Finally, I'm starving.

I raced downstairs and into the kitchen, and smelled baked ziti. Yum. My mom, my dad, we call him Jeb, and Ella were already sitting at the table. I heard Nudge coming down the stairs. I sat down at my seat and Nudge did the same thirty seconds later. That girl's fast.

"How was school?" Jeb asked.

"Good." I answered shortly. I love Jeb and all, but he gets on my nerves sometimes.

"It was-" Nudge began, but I cut her off.

"It was great, everyone like her clothes and stuff." I said, imitating her. She glared at me and ate her ziti.

"It was good for me too!" Ella told him. "Nudge and I are in some classes together, and it was good to see my friends again!"

"That's great!" He replied with a smile.

I was finished in two minutes, then took more.

"Max, slow down!" My mom told me, laughing. "You're going to make yourself sick!"

"No I'm not! I eat like this all the time!" I protested.

She just smiled and asked, "Are you in any classes with your friends?"

"Um, World Cultures with Lynn and Iggy, Bio with Tess, Gym with J.J. and Tess, Art with Fang, Lunch with Lynn, Tess, J.J., Fang, and Iggy, Study Hall with Iggy and Fang, Spanish 2 with Anna, Lynn, and Fang, and English with J.J." I said, thinking hard. That's a lot to remember!

"That's good." Jeb said. I nodded and continued eating. Man, my mom is a good cook!

"Great supper mom." I said as I got up to put my plate in the dishwasher.

"Thanks, I could tell you liked it by the way you shovelled all three huge servings in your mouth." She replied.

I smiled, embarrassed. I walked up to my room and sat down on my bed, thinking. I was thinking about a lot of things, school, Nudge making me wear nice clothes, Ella and Iggy, Fang... Did I really just say that? Oh my god, why did I just think that?! Calm down Max, I told myself, Fang's your best friend. It's fine that you think about him. Ugh, why is life confusing? I need a distraction... I looked around my room, and my eyes fell on my bookcase. Perfect! I'll read, that takes my mind off things. I grabbed a book I haven't read before and looked at the back cover. Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . . Sounds interesting. I opened it and started reading.

* * *

"What? Where am I?" I asked confused. I had fallen asleep while reading, and woke up not knowing where I was. I looked around, and realized that I was on my bed, in my room. I looked at the clock. 1:32, last time I checked it was 9:00. I put the book on my bedside table and closed my eyes, trying to sleep, but I couldn't. No matter what I did, I couldn't sleep. I turned on music, laid on one side, then the other, my back, and my stomach, read some more, nothing worked. Maybe if I just stare at the wall...

Right before I fell asleep, I saw Fang, smiling at me.

**A/N: HEY! Sorry I'm updating this so late, I just got back from a football game. It was our homecoming game and we won against an undefeated team! YAY! I'm in the band, and it was tons of fun, but I'm pretty much asleep on my feet. Can't wait for the dance tomorrow, it's gonna be awesome. Oh, yeah, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I realize that Max may be OOC at times, but it's kinda hard to keep her the same kick-butt Max we know and love when she's a normal person in high school. Remember, reviews and ideas for the story are appreciated! **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**A/N: So, in the last chapter it said that Max saw Fang before she fell asleep. I realize that Fang sounds kinda stalker creepo there O.o But I just wan to clarify that Fang wasn't in the room, she was just thinking about him. My tired brain didn't really know how to express that. Oh, I almost forgot. So I know you guys like Maximum Ride, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this. But do you like Percy Jackson? If you don't I recommend it. Anyway, me and my friend, llamasandsnickuhsbahrs are writing this story, Flying High, and it's a crossover of Max Ride and Percy Jackson. So, feel free to check it out! Onward with the chapter!**

Time to go to my least favorite class, gym. At least I have it with J.J. and Tess, so it's bearable. After we warmed up, we went outside to play football. I hate it when we play co-ed, because the guys never pass to the girls. Sexist much? I was a pinny, I always am, but Tess was on my team, so together we pretended to play by jogging in the direction of the ball. We were always wide open, but as I said before, they never passed it to us. A half an hour later, though it seemed like an hour, we went into to get changed.

This year I decided to take an art class. I wasn't great at drawing, but I needed the credits and thought it would be easy. The bad thing is that its on the other side of the school, so I'm probably going to be late a lot. The good thing is that Fang's in it, he's actually good at art, so he can help me. I walked in the door just before the bell rang. Even though it was only the second day of school, we had already started working. I looked at the teacher, a sub, on the second day of school! Cool. I sat down next to Fang and said, "A sub, should we mess with her?" He just smirked and continued writing in his agenda.

The sub started to take attendance. I raised my hand in acknowledgement when I heard "Maximum Ride." and a little later, "Nicholas Xavian." None of the teachers call him Nicholas, they know he preferred Fang. What can I say, he likes fanged creatures. I couldn't wait to see what he would do. I glanced at him, smiling, he looked mad, you could see it in his eyes, but the rest of his face was expressionless, as usual. I was probably the only one who could tell. "Nicholas?" the sub asked again, and the other students turned to look at Fang. He looked at the sub and said, "It's Fang." evenly. She blinked, then continued, "Umm, Michael Young." I was still smiling at Fang, and he glared at me again. Just wait till I told Iggy.

The rest of the day went by slowly and painfully. Ugh, whoever thought of school was an idiot. Did they enjoy torturing kids? In Spanish, why do I have to learn another language anyway, I don't travel, the teacher, Senora Walker, assigned us seats for the entire year. I was next to Anna and behind Fang, and Lynn was on the other side of the room. A girl named Lissa sat next to Fang. I groaned internally, she liked him, and I would have to put up with a years worth of her flirting and hair flipping. Don't get me wrong, she was nice, just annoying. To me anyway, I think it's her girliness. Finally the bell rang, and on my way to English I met up with J.J., and we walked together. One more period Max, then freedom. You can do this. I encouraged myself.

"The first football game's Friday, are you going?" J.J. asked.

"I don't know, it's only Wednesday, and I don't really like sports." I told her.

"No one really watches the game, silly. They mostly walk around and talk." She said laughing at my stupidity.

"I don't know... I think I'd rather lay on the couch watching TV and eating." I explained.  
"Think about it." she told me as we walked into the room and took our seats.

"At long last, freedom!" I told Fang and Iggy as we got on the bus and sat down. Iggy laughed and Fang gave his signature half smile.

"Your day wasn't awesometastic?" Iggy asked me.

"Well..." I began, pretending to think. "No."

"But Max," Iggy said with strained patience. "School is a wonderful place filled with kind, thoughtful teenagers, teachers that give easy tests, and the magic of learning!" I swear, that kid should be an actor.

I just laughed at him and turned to try to look out the window that Fang was hogging. We had just stopped outside the middle school, so Nudge and Ella would be on soon.

"Hey Max, you going to the football game Friday?" Maya asked.

"Why does everyone think I like sports?" I mutter to myself. "I'm not sure." I say louder so she could hear.

"You should come, they're fun!" she exclaimed. Of course they're fun for her, she's a cheerleader, and Dylan's a football player. Don't even bother asking me what position he plays, I don't even know what the quarterback does. Anyway, they're just the perfect couple, right? Who wants to bet they'll be prom king and queen in two years.

"MAX! How was school? I had tons of fun, did you?" Nudge asked.

"It was ok." I replied with a shrug.

"It was ok? OK?" She asked appalled. "Max, you need to start having more fun, join some clubs, maybe get a boyfriend."

"What?!" I asked, blushing. "I don't... Why should I, what?!" I stuttered oh so attractively.

"I said, 'join some clubs, get a boyfriend.'" She repeated, oblivious to my embarrassment. I saw Fang smile out of the corner of my eye. Idiot.

"I don't need a boyfriend!" I half yelled. "And why should I join clubs? I don't want to be at that place more than I have to."

"People who date are happier, it's a proven study. And clubs look good on college and job applications, and they help you meet people with the same interests as you." She explained.  
I gave her my famous 'death glare' and she looked away and started talking to one of her friends. No one can stand my death glare, well, except Fang... I glanced around the bus, and saw that Ella was sitting with Iggy, Nudge was avoiding looking at me at all costs, and Fang was staring at me.

"What? Am I really that gorgeous that you can't take your eyes off me?" I asked jokingly.

He just smiled, shook his head, and went back to looking out the window. He really gets on my nerves sometimes. I wasn't really in the talking mood, so I took out my iPod, put my earbuds in, and listened to music. After that the time seemed to fly by.

I had a little bit of homework, on the second day of school! Those teachers are crazy. I finished it, and decided to read some more. This was a great book, I'm surprised I didn't read it earlier. I was almost finished with the book and at a really good part, when I heard, "Supper time!"

"Uggh." I groaned and reluctantly closed the book. But when I got downstairs and smelled the food, I completely forgot about it. "This is my favorite!" I said happily. Grilled chicken with rice and gravy. Simple, but delicious!

"Yeah, Nudge said that you weren't having a great day, so I figured I'd make this." She explained.

"My day was fine, I just don't like school." I told her. "But thank you."

Nudge at least had the decency to look embarrassed, but I gave her a small smile to let her know that I forgave her. She smiled back, and started eating. Everyone dug in, me especially. I basically inhaled it. A minute or so later, I was refilling my plate, and eating again. Thankfully no one commented this time. I told my mom that it was awesome and she smiled at me. I ran back to my room, now remembering my book and wanting to know how it ends. After I put it down, I just sit there in my chair, thinking. It was so good, scary, and interesting at the same time. I think there's a sequel. I hope so! I need to find out and read it.

Just then my door opened a little, and a pair of bright, brown eyes peeked in. "Hey Ella," I said, "Come on in." she walked in with Nudge right behind her. Nudge closed the door and they sat on my bed, looking at me. Oh my god, this is just like in the movies! A little scared now, I nervously ask "What's up?"

"Well..." Ella begins uncertainly. "Nudge and I we talking and we... we, thinkyouneedaboyfriend." She says the last part really fast.

"Repeat please." I request. I think I know what she said, but I want her to clarify before I try to kill Nudge.

"I know what you're thinking, Max." Nudge intervened, reading my expression. "Just hear us out."

"Anyway," Ella said. "I said that Nudge and I think you need a boyfriend." She tensed, ready to run.

I sighed and asked warily, "Because... ?"

They both looked relieved that I was being reasonable. "Well, you don't do that much, you're kinda mopey, you need to get out of the house and live a little, ya know? Not to mention the fact that you're a sophomore and seventh graders date." Nudge explained.

"What? I hang out wiht my friends, I am not mopey, and I don't need to date just because other people do, that's like jumping off a cliff just because everyone else is doing it!" I was starting to get pretty loud, so I tried to calm down. "Some juniors and seniors don't date." I added defensively.

"Max," Ella said. "You're pretty, nice, and you could be popular if you want." I snorted. "It's true!" she insisted. "You should go on dates."

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe I don't want to." I said.

"C'mon, Max." Nudge said. "There must be someone you like." Fang. What? Oh my god, what's happening to me? Seriously, if this keeps up, I'm going to have to have a talk with myself. Wow, I think I'm going crazy.

"Max?" I heard Ella ask, concerned.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, my mind was wandering for a second." To places it IS NOT allowed.

"Ok," she said, still looking at me funny.

"Anyway." Nudge began. "Like I said, there must be someone you like, and we have to make him notice you." She looked me up and down. "And that isn't doing the job." I looked down at my clothes.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked.

She just rolled her eyes and said "I didn't make you buy all those clothes for them to just sit in your closet. You need to wear them. And a little makeup wouldn't hurt." Was this whole boyfriend thing just an excuse for her to dress me up?

"Why do I need to wear makeup?" I asked her angrily. I don't wear makeup 1) It's a hassle to put on every morning, and I'm not an expert. 2) It makes me feel like I can't touch my face or I'll mess it up, and I don't want to be like one of those girls who's constantly looking in the mirror fixing her makeup. 3) I don't see the point. What's wrong with how I look?

Nudge sighed. "It's to bring out your features. You don't need a lot, but just a little eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush, and lip gloss will make a big difference."

I knew I couldn't win. I could fight, but Nudge fights back hard, especially with this kinda stuff. "Fine, you can teach me how and pick out my clothes for me, just nothing too... Overboard."

Nudge squealed and told Ella to get her stuff. The makeover begins.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Surprisingly, it was pretty easy to put on makeup, except for eyeliner. Max no likey stick-like things by her eyes. But I could finally put it on without fear of poking my eye. Nudge showed me what to do then made me do it, many times, until I had mastered everything. I still thought it was a little much to do everyday, just for school. But Nudge would not take no for an answer. She also had a surprise for me, my very own makeup kit chock full of eyeshadow, eyeliner, foundation, blush, lipgloss, and lipstick. I bet I won't use half of it, some of the colors are too much. Who wears bright blue eyeshadow anyway? I pretended to love it, and thanked Nudge, but she probably saw right through me.

Finally mom came in and told us to get to bed, because we had to get up early the next day. Like I needed reminding. Nudge told me that I better be wearing makeup tomorrow, or else. That girl can be scary if she wants to, trust me.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of an air raid alarm. I slammed my alarm clock, and it turned off. I figure not even I can sleep through that. I slowly made my way to the bathroom, my eyes half closed. I made sure to scrub my face really hard in case there was still makeup on it. Then I went back to my room and found that Nudge had laid out an outfit for me. Great, I was gonna look like a freakin model. I looked at myself in the mirror. I really need to stop letting Nudge boss me around. I put some makeup on, knowing she would kill me if I didn't. I actually tried to match my eyeshadow with my top, and it looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. My top was light green with a denim vest, white skinny jeans and black converse. I thought about doing something with my hair, then decided it was too much work and went downstairs to breakfast.

"Max! You look really good!" Ella said. I blushed, and Nudge turned to look at me.

"I knew that'd look great on you! And your makeup looks good, not overdone, natural. I'm so proud of you." Nudge told me happily.

"Well you are a good teacher." I replied, still blushing. I sat down and poured myself a bowl of Cheerios, added milk, and started eating. Aren't I a great cook? Just kidding, don't ask me to cook something unless you want food poisoning.

"You do look nice Max." My mom said. "Cute boy?" Nudge and Ella giggled.

"Grrr. No, but Nudge is making me do this so I get a boyfriend." I explained, glaring at Nudge.

"That should be no problem, you look very pretty." She replied with a smile. I was so embarrassed I wanted to die. I quickly finished my cereal, said goodbye, and stalked out the door.

I was the first one at the bus stop, no big surprise, since the bus didn't come for ten minutes. I was mad, but also grateful that Nudge was doing this. I know this doesn't sound like me, and you'll probably be thinking 'Who are you and what have you done with Max?' But the truth is, I was always sort of jealous of girls like Nudge. They look really good, but I always thought that I could never look like that, so I didn't try. Lost in thought, I didn't hear Fang come up behind me. Not that I would anyway, because he never makes noise when he moves. He took one look at me and said, "Wow! I didn't recognize you for a second. You are Max, right?"

"Yes," I growled at him. "Nudge is forcing me to wear this ridiculous stuff."

"You don't look ridiculous" He said, and I looked at him, surprised. "You look nice, just not like yourself." He went on.

"Whatever." I told him as Nudge came running up, with Iggy and Ella following.

"Max! Is that you?" Iggy asked, grinning.

"No, it's her more fashionable twin, Jamie." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, well nice to meet you Jamie, how are you doing today?" He asked, hand extended.

I went along with it, shaking his hand. "Delightful, and you?"

"Marvelous, absolutely spiffing!" He replied, grinning.

"That's simply wonderful! I'm so glad." It was really hard not to start cracking up.

"Oh look, here comes the bus, shall we?" He said, extending his arm. I put my my arm through his and we skipped towards the bus together. The bus driver looked at us like we were crazy, and Iggy said, "Splendid morning isn't it?" We sat down and started cracking up. Everyone else was laughing too, even Fang.

"You should have seen... The driver's face!" Ella choked out. Nudge was laughing so hard she was crying, Iggy's face was bright red, and I was doubled up with laughter. A few seconds later Maya and Dylan got on, staring at us. It only made us laugh harder.

"What's so funny?" Dylan asked.

"Dylan! Simply splendid to see you, old chap!"

This only made them look more confused, and us laugh harder still, if that's possible. A few minutes later we were all gasping for breathe. Then I made the mistake of looking at Iggy, and started cracking up again. By the time we got to school, everyone on the bus was staring at us. I tried to be as dignified as possible, and when we got off Iggy offered me his arm again. We skipped up to the doors, ignoring the stares. We walked with me to my locker and once we reached it went into a deep bow and said, "I has been a great honor to escort you to your locker, Jamie." He winked at me and walked away. I chuckled to myself as I got my books. You gotta love Iggy. The rest of the day went pretty well, during gym class I thought about this morning and it wasn't so bad anymore. Even watching Lissa try to flirt with Fang during spanish wasn't as annoying, though it still irritated me.

When Ella and Nudge got on the bus and looked at me and Iggy, they started laughing again, but not as hard this time. We all went to Iggy's house after school for snacks and fun. Iggy refused to call me Max, insisting that I looked nothing like her. "Max isn't fashionable and didn't wear makeup," he told me. I gave up, he would get tired of it eventually. Soon, his stepbrother and stepsister came home from school. He introduced them to me. "Angel, Gazzy, this is Jamie, Max's twin sister." Angel and Gazzy are nine year old twins. They're basically the cutest kids ever. They both have light blonde hair, Gazzy's is spiked up and Angel's is curly and reaches her shoulders. They have light blue eyes. They look like angels.

Angel was holding her bear Celeste. She loves that bear. It's white, has a white dress and halo, and white wings. It's an angel, just like her. "No! That's Max." She said, walking over to me. I picked her up and she hugged my neck.

"I don't know..." Gazzy said thoughtfully. "She's dressed nicer, Max doesn't dress like that at all."

"Thanks Gaz," I told him sarcastically. "Iggy's just being silly."

"Moi? Silly? Impossible!" Iggy said, appalled.

"Whatever you say." I replied. Then checked the time. Only 4:00, we didn't have to head home yet. Iggy and Gazzy were talking about bombs they wanted to build. Great, just not when I'm around, please. Nudge and Ella were talking about clothes. Really? Isn't there more to life? And Angel, Fang, and I were drawing. Well, Angel was drawing, and Fang was trying to help me. It wasn't going so well. He said I was doing fine, but I thought my sketches were awful. He told me that I need to be patient and not rush, and I told him that patience and me don't get along.

"Ok, let's try something easier." He suggested.

"Easier than an apple?" I asked. Yes, he was making me draw fruit. That stuff is hard to draw, I don't know how people do it.

He sighed and said, "How about..." He glanced around the room. "A tissue box. Its a rectangle with an opening. Not hard."

"Fine. Tissue box it is." I agreed. Fang got a ruler and I asked, confused, "Isn't that cheating?"

"Can you draw straight lines without one?" he asked sardonically.

"No," I replied and grabbed the ruler. I drew a retangle, now, for the hard part. I need to make it 3D. "How-?" I began. Fang took the ruler from me and lined it up with the top side. Then he slide it up the paper a few inches, making sure it was parellel. He did the same thing with the right side of the rectangle, connecting the lines that he drew, and handed my the ruler.

"Now connect them." He instructed me. I drew three, parallel diagonal lines, and it actually looked like a box. "Cool!" I said, and he smiled. I swear the room got a little brighter. I looked down at the drawing and added and opening. A tissue box! I'm proud of myself.

"Good job." He told me, and I smiled.

"Max! Do you like my drawing?" Angel asked, holding her drawing in the air.

It was all of us, me, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Ella, Gazzy, and her. She even drew Celeste.

"It's awesome!" I told her truthfully. "Lets go ask your mom if you can hang it up somewhere." Mrs. Griffiths, of course, said yes. We hung it up by their table, so they could see it while they ate.

"It's getting late. We should probably go." I said to Nudge and Ella.

"I'll go with you guys." Fang said.

"Sure." I replied happily.

"I don't want you to go!" Angel said, hugging me.

"I'll see you soon." I said, hugging her back, and said goodbye to Iggy and Gazzy. They both said, "Bye Jamie." at the same time. That was kind of creepy.

Fang and I walked in silence, but Ella and Nudge were still talking. Well, mostly Nudge, but still.

"Thanks for helping me draw." I told Fang when we got to his house.

"No problem." He said, "Anytime." and turned to go inside. I felt like I should say something, but didn't know what, so I went to catch up with Nudge and Ella.

"So, he's like really cute, and I think he likes me, but I'm not sure." Nudge was telling Ella. Yay, girl talk. Cause I'm so great at this.

"Maybe you should talk to him." Ella suggests. "Or, like, if he needs help in a subject that you're good at, you can offer to help him with homework."

"Maybe..." Nudge said, thinking. We reached our house and filed in.

"Just in time for supper!" My mom announced.

"How was school today Max?" Jeb asked. "Better than yesterday?"

"Yeah, actually it was pretty good." I replied.

My mom and dad looked surprised. Nudge, Ella, and I looked at each other. I mouthed 'Jamie' and we started cracking up. The looks on my parents faces were priceless.

**A/N: Hey guys! I don't really have anything to say, so... I hope you guys liked the chapter! I had fun writing it, especially the Jamie parts, which was pretty much the whole thing. So I basically enjoyed writing the entire thing... Yeah. Anyway, feel free to give suggestions! Oh, and just to clarify, Jamie is Max, she's just fooling around with Iggy. **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Soon I got used to getting up early, getting dressed, (Nudge had stopped picking outfits for me, thank god, but I still dressed nicer than I used to) and going to school. I can hear you guys, you, in the back, saying, "Max! Aren't you supposed to hate school?" I said I got used to it, not that I like it. Oh, and major dilemma, Today's Friday, and tonight Iggy, Fang, Nudge, Ella, and I are going to a karaoke place tonight. They had to use major persuasion powers to get me and Fang to go along with this one, and worse, Nudge and Ella are forcing me to sing. I don't sing, well, maybe in the shower, once or twice, but I know that I'm horrible. I'm going to make a complete fool out of myself. Maybe if I make Iggy sing with me I can trick myself into thinking we're just fooling around...

Other than that, don't you just love Fridays? Their awesomeness just makes the whole day better! I mean, you have a whole two and a half days of freedom before more school! School was ok, as usual, but for once I was sorta dreading going home. You know, cause of the karaoke thing.

"Afternoon, Jamie. I hope your day was well." Iggy asked with a phony British accent and a huge grin on his face. This is really getting old.

"Fine, Ig, but I'm not Jamie. She got transferred to a charter school, I'm just her boring sister Max." I explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that!" He pretended to be shocked. "Give her my best wishes."

"Sure." I replied with a Max-like eye-roll.

At the middle school, Nudge got on, her eyes shining. Oh, no.

"So, I was thinking about what you were going to sing all day, and I think I figured out the perfect song!" She told me happily.

"Nudge, I really don't want to sing. I'm going to be horrible." I said.

"Yes you are, and you're going to be great" she insisted.

"It's not a necessity!" I said desperately.

"Well in that case I guess I'll just have to tell this lovely bus-"

"Wait wait wait!" I cut her off. "Fine, I'll sing. What song are you torturing me with?"

"It's a surprise." She replied with an evil grin.  
I sighed and saw Fang looking at me. "What are you smirking at?" I snarled.

"She has blackmail on you?" he asked, still with that irritating smirk on his face.

"Yeah, that little sneaky, conniving devil," I muttered.

"Which is?"

"Like I'd tell you." As if. He flashed a quick smile at me and turned to stare out the window again. I'm pretty sure I heard him say something that sounded like "I probably know it anyway." Yeah, he pretty much knows everything about me. Especially the embarrassing things. What can I say, Fang's my best friend, I tell him everything.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Ella, what could she have to tell me that she couldn't wait fifteen minute for?_ Max, i no what song Nudge wants u 2 sing, she made me promise not 2 tell u, but i think u'll like i_t. Hmmm... How could I get her to tell me? I guess it's not really worth it though, because it's only for one night.

_Thnx_. I typed back. I saw her look over at me and smile, and I returned it. At least one of my sisters is nice. Just kidding, I love Nudge, but she can be really irritating, what with keeping important things from me and threatening blackmail... As soon as I stepped off the bus, Nudge grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the house.

"C'mon, I need to pick out an outfit for you." she said, not looking at me.

"But we're not going until 7:00!" I reminded her.

"Yeah, but I'm going to have to do your makeup, and I want to get it out of the way." Oh my god what was she going to do to my face that took like an hour? I put up a fight, twisting her arm, stopping and not moving, like a donkey, but Nudge is strong.

Eventually we made it to my room, and Nudge yanked open my closet doors and started rifling through my clothes. "Aha! Here it is." she exclaimed, pulling out a light mint green dress with a sweetheart neckline. Sweetheart neckline? I'm seriously starting to worry myself.

"No" was my automatic answer. Nudge pouted and made the bambi eyes. Darn it! She knows I can't say no to the bambi eyes. "I'll put it on and see what I think." I compromised. She gave it too me and dove back into my closet to look for something else while I put it on. I hate dresses, they make me feel so... What's the word I'm looking for? I'll think about it and get back to you.

Nudge resurfaced and handed me a denim vest/shrug thing, when did I get all of these? Come to think of it, when did I get this dress? I don't remember trying it on... Nudge must have went shopping for me without me again. It's an annoying habit she's developed. I put the vest on too and looked at her. "Great! One minute." she dug around my closet for a few seconds and pulled out the boots I wore on my first day of school. Remember them? It was awhile ago... Recap: black ankle boots that are wedges. Does she want me to fall off the stage and make an even bigger fool of myself? I put them on and she motioned for me to spin around. Feeling like Katniss from The Hunger Games, I spun. "Perfect! Stunning! Gorgeous!" Nudge exclaimed.

"If you say so, now shoo shoo, I'm going to change back so I don't get this dirty at dinner." I tend to be a messy eater. It's hard not to be if you shove food in your mouth. Maybe I should stop doing that.

"Kay kay, but put it back on right after." she instructed.

"Whatevs." I put the dress and vest on my bed, and the shoes on the floor. I wonder if they'll magically disappear or somehow get ruined. No, wait, I don't want that to happen because then Nudge would kill me.

Dinner was fairly quiet, amazingly. Nudge was "saving her voice." and Ella and I don't talk much. I'm too busy eating, and she quiet, not Fang quiet, but, oh, whatever, you know what I mean.

After dinner I went upstairs, brushed my teeth and hair (with different brushes of course) and went into my room. The dress was still on my bed, along with the vest and shoes, thank god. I put the dress on, I would put the vest and shoes on later. About a minute later I heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" I asked, walking toward the door.

"Who do you think?" Nudge replied.

I let her in and sat down in front of the mirror. I looked at all the stuff she was carrying. Apparently she was going to do my hair, too. See, Nudge cuts hair, and she's actually pretty good at it. I never let her cut my hair though, but it looks like she was going to today. Yay, not. She approached me with scissors, and I instinctively backed away. Call me crazy, but I'm not a fan of scissors near my head, or my body, or any sharp item for that matter.

"Max, please cooperate with me." Nudge begged.

"Fine, just give me a little warning next time." For the next twenty minutes, all I heard was the small snip snip of the scissors. Nudge had turned the chair around so I couldn't see what she was doing. Have I ever mentioned that I hate surprises? Well, I do. Now you know. Finally she was done.

"Can I see now?" I asked impatiently.

"No, still have to do your makeup." She replied. I groaned. Why? Why couldn't I see? About fifteen more agonizingly slow minutes later, I was allowed to look at myself. Who the heck is that? She was beautiful, her blonde streaks were laid so they stuck out more, her face glowed, gold eyeliner and shadow, long, thick lashes, a little blush, and light pink lips. I didn't even recognize myself.

"Woah..." was all I could say. Amazed, I waved my hand, to make sure it was me I was looking at. the girl in the mirror waved back. It was me! I was pretty! Oh, god, someone stop me before I turn into a complete girly girl. But I couldn't deny that I looked fantastic. And just for karaoke, I would probably be the most overdressed person there, well, except for Nudge. What if people stared? I hate attention of any kind.

"You like it?" Nudge asked anxiously, trying to read the expression on my face.

"Yes! I look great, I don't know how you do it." I told her reassuringly.

"Yay! I styled your hair, because it's so pretty, but it just kinda hangs there, ya know? And you have tiny bits of gold in your eyes, so I used the eyeshadow to bring it out." She explained. I have gold in my eyes? Huh. How come I didn't know this?

"Thank you, shouldn't you go get ready?" I asked.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! Meet you downstairs." she grabbed her stuff and ran out the door. I walked closer to the mirror, staring at my eyes. What do you know, there is gold in them. Okay then, learn something new everyday. I slowly put my vest/shrug on, and my shoes, and walked down the steps very carefully. I didn't want to fall and break my neck, or any other bone.

My mom must have hear me, because she looked up from her paper. "Oh, sweetie, you look wonderful!" she told me.

"Yeah, it was all Nudge," I shrugged, embarrassed.

"Your hair looks different, I like it." She complimented.

"Nudge cut it for me, she's talented." I replied with a smile. I heard two sets of footsteps on the stairs, and turned to see Nudge and Ella coming down. They both had dresses on, Ella's was strapless, white with pink, purple, and gray flowers on it. Nudge's was red and black plaid, there was about two inches of tule showing at the bottom, and about halfway through the skirt, about and inche wide, was a stip of tule that went all the way around, showing black underneath. Ella was wearing pink converse, and Nudge was wearing black wedges, sort of like mine.

"You all look great!" My mom said enthusiastically. Jeb came in and looked at us.

"Woah! Where's the party?" He asked.

"We're just going to a karaoke place, dad." Nudge told him, rolling her eyes. I think she gets that from me, the queen of eye-rolls.

"Anyone else going?" he asked, trying to sound casual but failing miserably.

"Just Fang and Iggy." I told him.

"Oh, ok. You girls have fun!" Fang and Ig have been over hundreds of times, so Jeb was cool with it.

"Bye!" Ella said, and I waved, turning to head out the door.

"Wait," my mom told us, and pulled out her phone. Ugh, I hate pictures. "Smile!"

I put on my best fake smile and stood in between Nudge and Ella, with my arms around their shoulders. My mom took a few pictures and said, "Now you can go, bye! Have fun."

We walked outside and over to Fang's house, we were all meeting there and Alice was driving us. It was right next to the mall, so we could have walked, but in these shoes, I did not want to. The door opened a few seconds before we stepped onto the porcha. It was Fang. The second he saw me, his eyes widened and his mouth dropped a tiny bit, about a second later, his face went back to his normal, emotionless mask. "Nudge." I whispered as an explanation.

"Ah." he said in understanding. "Come on in." But he had a strange look on his face. Okay...

We filed in and sat down in his comfy chairs. A minute later, the doorbell rang. "Iggy!" I heard Alice say. He ran into the living room and yelled, "WHO'S READY TO PARTY?!"

"You know I am." I told him, laughing.

"Jamie! The more fashionable twin is back!" he responded and ran over to hug me. He picked me up off the ground in a rib crushing hug, and spun me around.

"Let me down!" I giggled.

"Alright, Jamie." he responded with a wink. Everyone was laughing, just like they did that morning.

"We should get going," Nudge said, checking the time. We all walked out to the car. Alice walked up next to me and asked "Jamie?" obviously confused.

"It's a long story." I told her. She just smiled and got into the front seat of her SUV. Why does a single mom with one son have an SUV, you ask? She drives all of us around a lot for one, and her job requires a lot of things to be taken back and forth. I don't know what she does, because I'm not the kind of person who goes around talking to people about their personal lives.

Once we were all in, Iggy started singing, claiming he was doing 'vocal exercises.' We let him go, but I almost started crying when he started singing "99 bottles of beer on the wall." We couldn't get there fast enough. When we parked, I jumped out of the car and screamed, "Finally!"

"Max! I didn't know that you were so excited for karaoke." Ella said.

"I'm not, I just couldn't stand another second of Iggy's singing." I explained.

"Aww, thanks Max, cough cough, I mean Jamie. Now I'll sing every song just for you." For some reason that didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. We walked in, and heard a girl singing, she was ok, better than I could sing. All the sudden I got really, really nervous. I don't get nervous too often, and when I do I hate it. Please don't make me sing first. PLEASE don't make me sing first.

"Hey Max, you're gonna go first, ok?" Nudge asked. Great. I nodded weakly. Ugh, I think I may throw up... I followed her up to the stage. She whispered something into the guys ear and her nodded. She pushed me up the small steps, and I stood there, alone, with about thirty pairs of eyes watching me. Iggy gave me a thumbs-up and mouthed 'Jamie' I gave a small smile. Fang was looking at me with a smirk, which annoyed me. At least I was annoyed, and not nervous. Whoops, spoke too soon. The opening notes came on and the screen read: Long Live by Taylor Swift. Thank god I knew this song. **(A/N: It helps to listen to the song, I'm not very good at describing how people sing. :) )**

In a small voice I sang,

_I said remember this moment_

_In the back of my mind_

_The time we stood with our shaking hands_

_The crowds in stands went wild_

A little stronger this time, I continued.

_We were the kings and the queens_

_And they read off our names_

_The night you danced like you knew our lives_

_Would never be the same_

_You held your head like a hero_

_On a history book page_

_It was the end of a decade_

_But the start of an age_

Getting into it now, I sang the chorus, trying to put feeling into it.

_Long live the walls would crashed through_

_All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you_

_I was screaming, "long live all the magic we made"_

_And bring on all the pretenders, one day we will be remembered_

_I said remember this feeling_

_I passed the pictures around_

_Of all the years that we stood there on the sidelines_

_Wishing for right now_

_We are the kings and the queens_

_You trade your baseball cap for a crown_

_When they gave us our trophies_

_And we held them up for our town_

Now I was imagining myself there, with my friends, on top of the world. I smiled and began my favorite part.

And the cynics were outraged

Screaming, "this is absurd"

'Cause for a moment a band of thieves

_In ripped up jeans got to rule the world_

_Long live the walls would crashed through_

_All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you_

_I was screaming, "long live all the magic we made"_

_And bring on all the pretenders, I'm not afraid_

_Long live all the mountains we moved_

_I had the time of my life_

_Fighting dragons with you_

_I was screaming, "long live the look on your face"_

_And bring on all the pretenders, One day we will be remembered_

I paused, and sang the next part softer, but with a lot of emotion.

_Hold on to spinning around_

_Confetti falls to the ground_

_May these memories break our fall_

The next part was softer still,with only the piano playing, and I found I was looking at Fang while I sang it.

_Can you take a moment_

_Promise me this:_

_That you'll stand by me forever_

_But if God forbid fate should step in_

_And force us into a goodbye_

_If you have children someday_

_When they point to the pictures_

_Please tell 'em my name_

_Tell them how the crowds went wild_

_Tell them how I hope they shine_

In the last two verses, I sang louder and louder with the music for the last three words in each.

_Long live the walls would crashed through_

_I had the time of my life with you_

I sang the rest of the song as loud as I could while still trying to sound good.

_Long, long live the walls would crashed through_

_All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you_

_And I was screaming, "long live all the magic we made"_

_And bring on all the pretenders_

_I'm not afraid_

_Singing long live all the mountains we moved_

_I had the time of my life_

_Fighting dragons with you_

_And long, long live the look on your face_

_And bring on all the pretenders_

_One day we will be remembered_

I ended softly, and opened my eyes, not realizing that I had closed them. I looked at my friends and smiled. I heard a lot of clapping. Iggy was wolf-whistling. Wow! Was I that good? I barely even heard myself, I got lost in the music. Sorry if that sounds cheesy, but it's true. I gave a bow and walked off the stage.

"OMGYOUWEREAMAZING!" Nudge yelled in my face, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Uh, thanks." I replied. "But why did you make me go first? I didn't want to go first."

"I didn't want to give you any chance to hide in the bathroom or something." She explained.

"Ahh." I said, enlightened.

"You were good," Iggy told me, walking up. "But I'm going to be better!" With that he ran up to the stage. Oh my god what was that crazy boy going to sing? He said something to the song-guy that I couldn't hear. I didn't need to look at the screen to know what song he chose, the music said it all. Oh Iggy, you would choose this song. **(A/N: I'm Sexy and I Know It by LMFAO)**

He looked so... Confident up there. He winked towards us as he started to sing.

_When I walk on by, girl's be lookin' like: Damn he fly_

_I pimp to be beat_

_Walkin down the street in my new lafreak_

_Yeah_

_This is how I roll_

_Animal print pants, out of control_

_It's Redfoo with the big ass fro_

_And like Bruce Lee, I rock the club, yo!_

_Girl look at that body (3x)_

_I work out!_

_Girl look at that body (3x)_

_I work out!_

After "I work out!" he flexed his arms. I guess he was kind of muscular.

_When I walk in the spot, this is what I see_

_Everybody stops and they staring at me,_

_I got passion in my pants,_

_And I ain't afraid to show it (show it, show it, show it)_

_I'm sexy and I know it_

_Yeah_

_When I'm at the mall, security just can't fight them off_

_And when I'm at the beach, I'm in the speedo's tryn' to tan my cheeks (what)_

_This is how I roll,_

_C'mon ladies, it's time to go._

_We're headed to the bar, baby don't be nervous_

_No shoes, no shirt and I still get service (what)_

He had started dancing around the stage and making different facial expressions to go with the music. He looked like he was having a great time.

_Girl look at that body_

_I work out_

_Girl look at that body_

_I work out._

_When I walk in the spot, this is what I see_

_Everybody stops and they staring at me,_

_I got passion in my pants,_

_And I ain't afraid to show it (show it, show it, show it)_

_I'm sexy and I know it_

_Check it out, check it out:_

_Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah!_

_Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah!_

_Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah!_

_Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah, yeah!_

I don't know how he sang that with a straight face, because I was cracking up.

_Do the wiggle man,_

_I do the wiggle man,_

_Yeah_

_I'm sexy and I know it_

_Girl_ _look at that body_

_I work out_

_Girl look at that body_

_I work out (out, out, out, out, out, out, out)_

_I'm sexy and I know it._

"Thank you, thank you very much!" He said in a phony Elvis impersonation, and after many bows, he got off the stage. Pretty much everyone was clapping because 1) Who doesn't love that song? 2) He actually can sing pretty well, who knew? and 3) Everyone loves Iggy, he's super friendly and funny. When he reached us Ella hugged him and told him he was great. Aren't they so cute together? I admitted defeat, he obviously won, Nudge went on and on about it, and Fang told him "Good job, bro."

"Us next! Us next!" Nudge said, grabbing Ella's arm to drag her to the stage.

"Looks like that guy beat you too it." I said, pointing to the stage. He looked sort of familiar, maybe he goes to our school. **(A/N: I'm planning something! What is it you ask? You'll just have to wait to find out!)** He sounded pretty good, but I didn't recognize the song, so I half tuned him out.

"What song are you going to sing?" I asked Ella and Nudge, curious. Ella opened her mouth, but Nudge clamped her hand over it.

"You'll see!" She said brightly, "We're gonna wait by the stage so we get to go next. See you!" I turned back to Iggy and Fang. Iggy was surrounded by a bunch of girls, who 'Thought he was amazing' and 'OMG I love that song!' and 'You're hair, is, like, sooo cool!' He eating it up of course, but he politely turned them away. I guess he liked Ella too. Aww! They're so cute together, as I said many times before. But it's true, so deal with it. I went to stand next to Fang while the guy finished the song, said "Thank you!" and walked off the stage. Nudge immediatly jumped on and Ella followed her. A catchy beat came on. The screen read: Bad for Me by Megan and Liz.

Nudge started singing

_I wore red cuz you liked that_

_You're like hey, let me get that_

_But when I text, you don't text back,_

_No you didn't cuz you didn't care_.

Then Ella sang

_Well the game makes me crazy_

_It's like yes, no maybe,_

_And you're calling me baby,_

Nudge finished the verse and continued.

_When I know that you just don't care_

_Oh ohhh_

_Sayin' that I'll quit but that's just not true_

_Like w-whoa whoa_

_I say I don't like it but you know I do_

_Cuz_

They sang the next part, the chorus at the same time. Wow, they sounded good together.

_You make me feel so right,_

_Even if it's so wrong_

_I wanna scream out loud_

_Boy but I just bite my tongue_

_This one's for the girls, messin' with boys_

_Like he's the melody and she's background noise_

_Baby why can't you see_

_It feels so good, but you're so bad for me_

After a pause, Nudge continued alone.

_I always want what I can't have_

_Give it all, never get half_

_You're like girl where you been at_

_And I really wanna just not care_

_But_

Whoa whoa

Then she switched off to Ella.

_Sayin that I'll quit but that's just not true_

_Like w-whoa whoa_

_I say I don't like it but you know I do_

_Cuz_

Again, they sang the chorus together.

_You make me feel so right,_

_Even if it's so wrong_

_I wanna scream out loud_

_Boy but I just bite my tongue_

_This one's for the girls, messin' with boys_

_Like he's the melody and she's background noise_

_Baby why can't you see_

_It feels so good, but you're so bad for me_

Immediately Ella sang:

_And I'm dying tonight_

_Trying to hide, hide_

_What I'm feeling, I'm feeling like I'm_

_Dying tonight_

_I'll keep it inside_

Again, Nudge finished the verse and they sang the end together.

_When I say hello, should be saying goodbye_

_Like_

_You make me feel so right,_

_Even if it's so wrong_

_I wanna scream out loud_

_Boy but I just bite my tongue_

_This one's for the girls, messin' with boys_

_Like he's the melody and she's background noise_

_Baby why can't you see_

_It feels so good, but you're so bad for me._

Breathless, they said "Thank you!" held hands and bowed. Then Nudge curtsied and Ella copied her. They were met by tons of appluase. Beaming, they jumped off the stage and ran towards us.

"You guys were awesome, I didn't know you could sing like that!" I told them. Ella smiled and walked over to Iggy, and he hugged her. Nudge, however, was more verbal, as always.

"Thank you! I love that song, it's so upbeat, I thought it would be perfect! Ella and I have been practicing for a while. We kinda want to start a band, but we don't play instruments, so we probably never will... Maybe Fang can teach you how to play the guitar, Iggy can play drums, Ella on keyboard, and I could sing! That would be sooo cool!"

"Woah, woah, woah, I don't want to learn how to play an instrument, it's too hard. And i don't like people watching me." I said. I was so not for this idea. I like music, but I don't want to play it. I'd rather just sit back and listen, thank you very much.

"Please Max! Just think about it." She begged.

"Fine, I'll think about it. Anyway, you'll need to convince Fang." Iggy would do it, for sure, but Fang... Not so much. He sort of likes to blend in.

"Yay! No problem, Fang will totally do it." she said. I rolled my eyes, not convinced. I looked around for him, wanting to talk to him before Nudge got the chance, but I only saw Iggy and Ella. I turned towards the stage. Was he going to sing? Fat chance. Fang doesn't sing, I mean, he hardly even talks. But what did I spy with my little eye? Fang stepping on to the freaking stage! WTH! I hate to be wrong, even if I'm the only one who knows I'm wrong. He smiled at me and winked. What did that mean? He is so irritating some times. I wonder what some he's gonna sing... Wow, didn't have to wait long for that answer! The words: Beside You by Marianas Trench appeared on the screen. That's a new one.

He started singing softly. He was actually really good.

_When your tears are spent on your last pretense_

_And your tired eyes refuse to close and sleep in your defense._

_When it's in your spine like you've walked for miles_

_And the only thing you want is just to be still for a while._

_Oh waaii oh waaii oh oooo_

_Oh waaii oh waaii oh oooo_

Louder, he sang:

_If your heart wears thin I will hold you up_

_And I will hide you when it gets too much_

_I'll be right beside you_

_I'll be right beside you_

He sang softer for the next part, but louder for the last verse.

_When you're overwhelmed and you've lost your breath_

_And the space between the things you know is blurry nonetheless._

_When you try to speak but you make no sound_

_And the words you want are out of reach but they've never been so loud_

_And If your heart wears thin I will hold you up_

_And I will hide you when it gets too much_

_I'll be right beside you_

_I'll be right beside you_

_I will stay._

_Nobody will break you,_

_Yeah._

With emotion, and Fang never shows emotion, he sang,

_Trust in me, trust in me._

_Don't pull away_

_Just trust in me, trust in me._

_I'm just trying to keep this together, because I could do worse and you could do better_

He got really soft for the next part.

_When your tears are spent on your last pretense_

_And your tired eyes refuse to close and sleep in your defense._

Then loud, how does he change pitch that fast?

_And if your heart wears thin I will hold you up_

_And I will hide you when it gets too much_

_I'll be right beside you_

_Nobody will break you_

_And if your heart wears thin I will hold you up_

_And I will hide you when it gets too much_

_I'll be right beside you_

Nobody will break you.

Wow. Two words: Mind blown. That was awesome. Ok, that's an understatment. It was amazing! He smiled, dipped his head slightly, and walked off the stage. His eyes were glued on me, like they were the entire time he was singing. I was just about to tell him how great he was when I saw a blur of red.

"Oh my god that was amazing!"

**A/N: Hmmm, wonder who that is? Unless you live under a rock, you probably know, but tell me your guesses anyway! So, this may turn into a songfic, possibly. It depends on the band thing. Tell me if you want a band or not! I know some of you don't like half of this chapter being a song, but you can skip over them if you want. Oh, and it really does help to listen to the song, because again, I'm crappy at describing the way people sing! Sorry this is up kinda late, I was busy being a sexy superior statue (inside joke) with the band, we had a festival and a football game, which we won! I know you guys probably don't care, but oh well! Until next time, bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lissa. Dang! I quickly stuck my foot out in front of her, causing her to trip. Haha, score for Max!

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I said in what I hope was a regretful voice. I grabbed her hand to help her up. "My leg just randomly spazzed and you just happened to run into it."

"It's ok, thank you!" She turned to Fang. Wow, pretty dumb, believing my really bad lie. I wasn't even trying, but when I do, I'm like, the best liar in the world. See! I just lied! Ok, back to being pissed off at Lissa but pretending to like her.

"Oh my god that was amazing!" Lissa said, looking up at Fang. "I love that song, you were so good! I didn't know you could sing! You should do theather, it's tons of fun!" For some reason, I was really annoyed at her. I mean, more than usual.

"Thanks," Fang replied with a smirk. Whoa, now I'm super confused. Does he like her? Am I overthinking this? Why do I care?

"I really want to sing, but I don't know what." Lissa stated. "There are so many good songs! Will you help me?"

"Um, I gotta get back to my friends." He told her.

"Ok..." She said with a pout. "See you later!" Fang continued walking to me, and I tried to collect myself.

"You were awesome." I told him. He smiled at me, and true smile that lit up the room.

"But I thought I couldn't sing." He said. He knows me so well he can practically read my thoughts.

"You can sing, you just don't, there's a difference." I replied.

"Whatever you say."

"Hey everybody!" a cheerful voice called form the stage. Lissa. I guess she picked a song without Fang's help. I turned towards the stage, my arms crossed over my chest. A few people, guys, I just happened to notice, called "Hi" back. She continued. "I'm gonna sing Your Love is My Drug by Ke$ha." God, she didn't have to announce everything, just get up there, sing, and leave. That's all you need to do.

She started singing. She sounded so... sure of herself, not nervous at all. Wait, isn't she in theatre? Yeah, that's probably why...

_Maybe I need some rehab_

_Or maybe just need some sleep_

_I got a sick obsession_

_I'm seein it in my dreams_

_I'm knockin down every alley_

_I'm makin those desperate calls_

_I'm staying up all night hopin_

_Hitting my head against the wall_

Hmmm... Wonder who she's singing about? I have no idea! Note the sarcasm.

_What you got boy is hard to find_

_I think about it all the time_

_I'm all strung out, my heart is fried_

_I just can't get you off my mind_

_Because your love your love your love is my drug_

_Your love your love your love_

_I said your love your love your love is my drug_

_Your love your love your love_

_Won't listen to any advice_

_Momma's telling me I should think twice_

_But left to my own devices_

_I'm addicted, it's a crisis_

_My friends think I've gone crazy_

_My judgments getting kinda hazy_

_My steez is gonna be affected_

_If I keep it up like a lovesick crackhead_

_What you got boy is hard to find_

_I think about it all the time_

_I'm all strung out, my heart is fried_

_I just can't get you off my mind_

_Because your love your love your love is my drug_

_Your love your love your love_

_I said your love your love your love is my drug_

_Your love your love your love_

Lissa sang the next part slower and softer, but got louder in the last verse.

_I don't care what people say_

_The rush is worth the price I pay_

_I get so high when you're with me_

_But crash and crave you when you leave_

****Then she sped up.

_Hey, so I gotta question_

_Do you wanna have a slumber party in my basement?_

_Do I make your heart beat like an 808 drum?_

_Is my love your drug?_

_Your drug, huh your drug_

_Huh, your drug is my love, your drug_

_Because your love your love your love is my drug_

_Your love your love your love_

_I said your love your love your love is my drug_

_Your love your love your love_

_Hey... Hey..._

_So?_

_Your love your love your love your love, is my drug_

Then, just when I thought the song was over, she said, while trying not to laugh:

"I like your beard"

Okaaay... Ke$ha's a little strange. Maybe that's why I don't listen to her music.

"Thanks! You guys are great!" She told the crowd cheerfully. Those aren't your cheering fans Lissa, you're not a famous pop star, stop acting like one. Wow, my mind is kinda mean. I better get back up there and show her how this place works. Wait, I don't want to sing again, I didn't even want to sing the first time. But it was kinda fun... While my mind was arguing with itself, I saw Lissa walk up to Fang. You know, I bet I know who she was singing about. Just guessing here, but I'm pretty sure it was Fang. Call me crazy, but that's what it seemed like.

"Hey Nudge," I said, grabbing her.

"Yeah?" she asked curiously.

"I wanna sing again. Got any song suggestions?"

"Hmmm... Well there was another one I was thinking about for you. I sort of reminds me of you, and I'm pretty sure you know it..." She told me quickly.

"Well? What is it?" I asked impatiently.

"It'll be a surprise." She replied with an evil glint in her eye.

"Enough surprises! You know I hate surprises!" There is just a gigantic risk that you won't like the surprise. I'd rather not take that chance.

"C'mon" She said, ignoring my comment, and lead me to the stage. No one had gone after Lissa, so I didn't have to wait. Is that a good or a bad thing? Again, Nudge told the song guy something I couldn't hear. Ugh! Secrets are frustrating! A rhyme from middle school floated into my thoughts. Secrets secrets are no fun, secrets secrets hurt someone. So true. "Go Max, you wanted to sing, didn't you?" Nudge asked.

"Yeah," I replied and got on the stage. I felt more comfortable up here then I did last time. I looked at the screen, hoping I knew the song. Yay! I did! It was Anything But Ordinary by Arvil Lavinge. I guess it reminded me of myself. I didn't say anything before I sang, because I'm nothing like Lissa. I noticed some people turned to look at me and got quiet. Maybe they recognized me at the horrible singer from before! The music came on, ok Max, you can do this.

I started off quietly.

_Sometimes I get so weird_

_I even freak myself out_

_I laugh myself to sleep_

_It's my lullaby_

_Sometimes I drive so fast_

_Just to feel the danger_

_Not that I can drive, but..._

_I wanna scream_

_It makes me feel alive_

Then I sang the chorus louder. This song was easier, because it was like I was singing about myself. I could put more feeling into it.

_Is it enough to love?_

_Is it enough to breathe?_

_Somebody rip my heart out_

_And leave me here to bleed_

_Is it enough to die?_

_Somebody save my life_

_I'd rather be anything but ordinary please_

I got quieter again, like the beginning.

_To walk within the lines_

_Would make my life so boring_

_I want to know that I_

_Have been to the extreme_

_So knock me off my feet_

_Come on now give it to me_

_Anything to make me feel alive_

_Is it enough to love?_

_Is it enough to breathe?_

_Somebody rip my heart out_

_And leave me here to bleed_

_Is it enough to die?_

_Somebody save my life_

_I'd rather be anything but ordinary please_

_I'd rather be anything but ordinary please._

_Let down your defenses_

_Use no common sense_

_If you look you will see_

_That this world is this beautiful_

_Accident turbulent succulent_

_Opulent permanent_

_No way I wanna taste it_

_Don't wanna waste it away_

I got reallyl quiet, and there was only a little music playing.

_Sometimes I get so weird_

_I even freak myself out_

_I laugh my self to sleep_

_It's my lullaby_

I practically yelled the chorus, while trying to sing. It's kinda hard.

_Is it enough?_

_(Is it enough?)_

_Is it enough to breathe?_

_Somebody rip my heart out_

_And leave me here to bleed_

_Is it enough to die?_

_Somebody save my life_

_I'd rather be anything but ordinary please_

_Is it enough?_

_Is it enough to die?_

_Somebody save my life_

_I'd rather be anything but ordinary please_

_Oh_

_I'd rather be anything but ordinary please._

I held out the last note for a little, and let it fade. When the music stopped, I gave a big smile, and bowed. It was met by applause. A lot, surprisingly. Woah, I thought I was horrible! I looked around and saw Iggy clapping the loudest, and yelling "Go Jamie!" I laughed and said "Thank you!" to the crowd. Back where we were standing, I found Lissa sulking near Fang, who was giving me his famous half smile. He hugged me and told me I was awesome. Nudge was squealing and hugged me super tight.  
"I told you it was the perfect song for you! You were great, we have to make a band now, we're all good singers, and it would be sooo much fun! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplea se!" She pleaded.

"Woah, slow down!" I told her with a laugh. "I'll think about it. Give me a little time."

"Fine." She agreed.

Ella and Iggy were standing side by side. "JAMIE! You were awesome!" he stuck out his hand. "Truce?"

I shook it and repeated "Truce."

"Ok, we are now equally awesome singers! But I may be a smidge better, and have cooler dance moves, but we're equal! Somewhat."

I smiled and said, "Ok, I don't really care."

"You were great Max!" Ella told me. "I love that song, it's so you!"

"Thanks! I had fun singing it." I replied truthfully.

"So, are we gonna head home soon? We've been here a while and it's getting kinda late..." She asked.

"Let me check with everyone else." I turned around and started walking towards Fang and Nudge, but someone stepped in front of me.

"Max! You were great! I didn't know you could sing that well!" A somewhat familiar voice said.

"Yeah, me neither." I replied, looking up. Oh, it was Sam, he's in some of my classes. WAIT A SECOND! He was the semi-familiar guy that sang before Nudge and Ella! "You were good too." I told him with a smile.

"Thanks, I've been in a few musicals, so I had to take voice lessons. I guess they worked." He said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, they did." I agreed, still smiling. What's up with me? Am I flirting? That's absurd, I don't flirt. I don't even know how!

"So... Are you doing anything next Friday?" He asked. Oh my god is he asking me out? I don't know how to handle these things! Where's Nudge?

"Um... I don't think so." I replied nervously. Saturday was the concert where we were going to set Iggy and Ella up, so Friday was free. Darn it.

"Well, I know this great Thai place that opened recently, maybe we could go?" He asked hopefully.

"I'll see if I can and get back to you." I promised. Maybe I can get myself grounded or something. Sam's nice, but I don't do dating. And what would we talk about? It would be so embarrasing. I take back wanting Nudge's help, if she hears about this, there's no way to get out of it. In a daze I walked over to Fang, who was trying, unsuccessfully, to not talk to Lissa.

"Fang! What time is it? Do you think we should get going?" I called over to him. He looked relieved to have a reason to leave Lissa, but she followed him anyway.

"Uh," He checked his watch. "It's a little after nine. I'll text my mom."

"Kay, I'll tell the others." I told him and turned to Nudge. "Hey, Fang's mom will probably be here in ten minutes, ok?"

"Sure, but Max, I have to talk to you about something."

"Yeah," I asked, worried. "What?"

"Well, I saw you talking to that cute boy and-"

"Ugh! Were you spying on me?"

"No! I just saw you. And I wanted to know what you were talking about and if he asked you out. He seemed to like you, and you were smiling a lot, and I. Have. To. Know!" She said dramatically.

"I think he likes me, because he did ask me out, next Friday. He's nice, but I'm not sure if I want to go." I said patiently, knowing she would get it out of me anyway.

"If he's nice why wouldn't you want to go?!" She raised her voice in exasperation.

"I'm not good at that kind of stuff, you are."

"How do you know? You've never been on a date before."

"I just, I can't talk to boys, I get nervous and it's awkward." I confessed.

"You talk to Fang and Iggy." She pointed out.

"Yeah, but they're my friends. It's different. Listen, lets talk about this later, okay? Like tomorrow or something. Just don't tell anyone yet." I pleaded.

"Fine. But we will talk about this."

"Yeah, of course." I replied. "I gotta tell Iggy and Ella we'll be leaving soon."

"Kay," She said and walked over to Lissa and started talking to her. She can talk to anyone about anything. Why can't I do that?

"Jamie returns!" Iggy shouted.

"Yes, yes, and I come bearing news." I said, playing along.

"What is your news fair Jamie?" He asked curiously.

"Fang's mother is arriving soon to take us home. I thought you might like to know."

"Thank you for your news, it was enlightening. Shall we skip out the door to wait?"

"We shall." I agreed with a smile and took his arm. We skipped towards the door, attracting a lot of stares. Nudge and Fang laughed, and Lissa looked confused. Oh well, I'll probably never see half of these people again, so I don't care what they think of me.

"Nicholas, Monique! Join us!" I called over my shoulder. Fang scowled, hating the use of his real name. Nudge ran after us, smiling, and Fang stalked after her. Ella joined Nudge and they skipped together too. When the door closed behind us, we all looked at each other and laughed. It would never get old. And the looks on people's faces made it twice as funny. We had stopped laughing a little before Alice pulled up.

"So, how was it?"

"Great." I told her, because it was.

**A/N: Ok, I swear every time I hear that song, I crack up at the "I like your beard" part. It's just so hilarious! I don't really have much to say... Oh! I forgot this in the last chapter, if you want to see Nudge's dress it's on my profile. My description was confusing. I hope you guys aren't going to kill me for the whole Sam thing. There may be some SamxMax. But, there will obviously still be Fax, because that is the entire reason of the story! FAX! Um, I think that's it! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and a little piece of advice for you: It's really fun to write with a friend! My friend and I have tons of fun writing Flying High together, so yeah! And the best part is that if you have writer's block you're not completely screwed! Anyway, here I go, rambling. I bet half of you don't read this! BYE!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**A/N: Oh my god you guys I am so sorry, you don't even know. I really don't have an excuse for not updating, I could have. I just feel like a horrible person right now. But I do have two reasons that don't really cut it. For one, I wanted to write more chapters before I posted so I could have a little breathing room, but that didn't happen because of reason number two. Number two is I had a crapload of homework. I mean a ton. I spent at least two hours on science homework every night this week, no lie. But like I said before, these aren't great excuses because I've had this chapter written for a while and had enough time to post it. Sigh. So I hope you guys can forgive me! Oh, and another apology. This chapter's sorta a filler, really ****_really _****sorry again. I just couldn't come up with anything. But don't worry, I promise things get more interesting after this, and I'm asking my friend right now to make sure I update again this week. Llamasandsnickuhsbahrs, I know you're reading this. So please make sure I update by Friday this week! Ok, so thanks for reviews and favorites, it means a lot, again, I'm so sorry, and hope you like the chapter! **

Ahh... The weekend. Is there anything better? Two full days of no school! Wow, I just realized that's not actually a lot because I have to do homework on the weekend too. I think school should be four days a week so we have three day weekends. That would be awesome! Maybe I should go to Congress about that... A voice interrupted my musings.

"Max! Are you just going to lay around all weekend? Get up! Go outside! Enjoy the sunshine!" my mom told me.

"The sun's too bright." I stated. "It'll burn my eyes and I'll go blind. Would you want that to happen?"

"You won't go blind unless you stare at the sun too long, and if you're really that worried, just wear sunglasses."

"But I lost my cool shades last year." I whined.

"Then borrow someone's or wear a hat." she replied.

"Ugh... Why do I have to go outside again?"

"The fresh air is good for you, just go for a walk or something."

"Fine." I'll go for a walk, straight to Iggy's house and hang out inside there. I went upstairs and knocked on Ella's door. "Ella? I'm going to Iggy's, wanna come?"

"Sure!" She replied immediately and I heard her move around her room. I moved down to Nudge's room. "Hey Nudge, Ella and I are going to Ig's. You coming?"

"Yep, one sec." Great, she'll probably be ready in like ten minutes then. I walked down the hall to my room to get sandals. The second I stepped in my room Ella ran up behind me and asked impatiently, "Are you ready yet?"

"Whoa, I'll be ready right after I put my flip-flops on, which I was just about to do before you interrupted." I said jokingly. "But Nudge on the other hand will probably be a few more minutes."

"Fine. I'll be downstairs." She told me with a quick smile. After I put my flip-flops on I walked back to Nudge's door. I knocked on it again.

"Nudge, you better hurry up unless you want Ella to bite your head off."

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She said and opened the door, stopping me in mid-knock. She looked picture-perfect, as always.

"Sheesh, what's the hurry?"

"I think Ella wants to see Iggy, like, really bad."

"Oh, I see." Nudge replied knowingly. "Speaking of, we need to talk about-"

"Yeah, yeah, later." I cut her off, automatically looking around to make sure no one was there. I can be pretty paranoid. "We better get downstairs before Ella kills us." I explained. We walked downstairs together really really slowly in full view of Ella. She glared at us, but we pretended not to notice. When we finally got to the bottom, Nudge stepped right in front of Ella.

"What took you so long?" She asked with a straight face.

"What took me so long?" Ella asked, outraged. "You two took twice as long as me."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there. Girls." I said, stepping in between them. "I know you guys are sisters, sisters fight, but we are all family here." I went on grandly, "We need to be there for eachother no matter what. Remember, a great man once said, 'We're all in this together.'"

"I didn't know you liked High School Musical." Ella said, confused. Eww, god no. But I have been forced to watch it multiple times.

"No, but Zack Efron is hot." I replied.

"Amen to that." Nudge said solemnly.

"Can't argue with that logic." Ella agreed.

"Anywho, ONWARD!" I yelled.

"Yes!" Ella and Nudge chorused.

Once we got out the door, I put my arms around their shoulders. Ella was on my left and Nudge was on my right. "So, who's excited for the weekend? I know I am! I'm sooo ready to kick back and relax!"

"But Max, it's already Saturday afternoon. We really only have one and and half days left." Ella pointed out.

"That's plenty of time for resting!" I declared.

"I swear, if you could, all you would do is eat and sleep." Nudge told me.

"You know what, I think you're onto something! That's very true..." I rubbed my chin in thought. "But I would probably spend some time reading and watching TV. Hey, we're almost at Fang's house, we should stop and get him."

"Kay," Nudge agreed. Ella said nothing. I guess she wasn't happy that I was further delaying her seeing Iggy. She just saw him last night! I'm gonna have to have a serious talk with that girl. I walked straight up to Fang's door and rang the doorbell three times, as usual. That way he knows its me.

"Hey." He said after he opened the door. He was wearing all black, as usual. But don't call him emo, he will kill you. Fang looked me up and down, frowning slightly. "You're not dressed up." He stated matter-of-factly.

"No, because we are going to Iggy's, and I am Max, not Jamie." I told him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him outside.

"Wait a minute," He said and called back into the house. "Mom, I'm going to Iggy's!"

I heard a faint "Bye, have fun." from inside. "Ready now?" I asked.

"Yup," Fang replied and put his hands in his pockets. We had to walk fast to catch up to Nudge and Ella. "You could have waited for us," I told them. "Remember what I told you guys earlier? We're all in this together."

"You like High School Musical?" Fang asked.

"No! And how do you know that's from High School Musical, do you secretly like it?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows.

He smirked at me and said, "No."

"Wow, what a great answer, you really have me convinced." I joked. He just grinned and kept walking. Fang! Why are you so irritating? Gosh, his lack of speaking pisses me off some time. After a few minutes of silence we reached Iggy's house. I saw Angel look out the window and wave. A few seconds later the door opened and she came running out.

"MAX!" She yelled and jumped into my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist and beamed at me.

"Hey! How are you?" I asked smiling. I love Angel, she's like the little sister I never had. Well, besides Nudge and Ella. You know what I mean.

"Good! Iggy said you sang really good last night." I blushed.

"Yeah, I guess I was ok. How's the fourth grade?"

"Great! I love school, and Mrs. Mead is really nice!"

"That's awesome!" At least she likes school. I put her down and she grabbed my hand. Angel always called me her big sister. I guess I kind of am, I'm over here a lot and I usually play with her.

"Max! It was great to see Jamie again last night." Iggy told when I walked inside.

"She told me she had fun, how was it?" I asked.

"Great, I was awesome, if I do say so myself." He told me with a grin.

I slapped him playfully and said, "I'm sure you were."

"Gazzy!" Angel called. "Max, Fang, Nudge, and Ella are here!" I heard footsteps pounding on the stairs and then Gazzy slid towards us.

"Woah!" He exclaimed in surprise when he fell down. Laughing, Fang and I helped him up. "You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, fine." He looked embarrassed. Iggy was pounded the floor and laughing, his face bright red. Nudge and Ella were giggling like crazy, and Angel was laughing, her whole body shaking.

"Guys... I think... we laugh way too much... when we're together," I stated between gasps for air.

Everyone nodded in agreement. "But the more you laugh the longer you live." Ella said.

"Then we'll live to be a hundred." Nudge stated.

"Ah, I can picture us now. Sitting in our rocking chairs on the porch of the same old folks home, Nudge and Ella sporting the trendiest grandma clothes, Gaz and I blowing things up, Max yelling at the crazy kids that pass by." Iggy said dreamily.

"Hey! I will never, I repeat, never, wear grandma clothes." Nudge retorted angrily.

"But they'll be fashionable! You'll make a huge statement. Everyone's head will turn when you roll down the hallway in your wheelchair." I told her. She just crossed her arms over her chest, but Ella laughed.

"C'mon Nudge, we can be foxy grandma's together!" Ella said.

"Fine." Nudge replied, looking slightly happier.

"So," Gazzy said. "What do you guys wanna do?"

"How about ultimate football?" Fang suggested quietly. "We play it in gym, and it's pretty fun."

"Who's up for it?" I asked. There were nods and a few "sures" so I said, "Ultimate football it is."

A fast, intense game later, we all flopped down on the grass. It was Iggy, Nudge, Angel, and I against Fang, Ella, and Gazzy. And let me tell you, Angel and Gazzy play rough. They may be small, but they're so tough kids. Fang's team made a valiant effort, but in the end, my team was victorious. I started humming "We are the Champions" and Iggy, Nudge, and Angel joined in.  
"Yeah, well you guys may be the champions, but we were doomed from the start." Gazzy said. "You had more people, and you, Ig, and Nudge are bigger than me and Ella."

"Fair point," I replied thoughtfully. "Rematch?"

"Deal." Fang told me.

This time it was boys against girls, those sexist pigs. But guess who won? That's right, me again! I'm just naturally competitive, Nudge wanted to show them up, Ella was determined to win, Angel is ruthless, and we had one thing they lacked. Teamwork. Like I've said so many times today, we're all in this together.

"Have enough of us yet?" Nudge asked teasingly.

"Ugh, I'm done." Gazzy groaned, laying down on the grass, panting.

"Yeah, I'm beat too." Iggy agreed, sitting next to Gazzy.

"Ha ha, yeah!" Ella said and high-fived Nudge, Angel, and I.

"So, I think you guys should be ours slaves for a whole day. What should we make them do?" I asked.

"What? Wait, no!" Fang exclaimed. Whoa, he actually showed emotion. That's a first!

"Oh, we're going to make you do so many things! You're going to clean my room, and lay out my clothes, and tape Wizards of Waverly Place for me!" I replied excitedly.

All the boys glared at me and I faltered. "Fine, but you're not allowed to say or do anything mean to us for the rest of the year, not school year, _the entire year_. Got it?"

They exchanged glances and then nodded simultaneously. Wow, did they practice that? It was weird and awesome at the same time.

"Cool!" Angel said.

"Yep," Ella agreed, "pretty cool! So we can do stuff to them and they can't retaliate?"

"Well... No." I said hesitantly.

"Yeah," Nudge continued. "That would be mean, we'd be abusing our power over them, you know?"

"I guess..." Ella said. "But what if they do do something mean?"

"He he! You said 'do do,'" Gazzy told her.

"Yes, she did, grow up." Nudge replied.

"Aww, c'mon, he's nine." I defended Gazzy.

"Back to Ella's question." Fang interrupted. "What happens if the guys do something mean?"

"Ah, yes. That." I replied, pretending to know the answer.

"Well?" Iggy asked.

"Uh... How about you actually have to be our slave for a whole day?"

"Oh my gosh, why do you keep trying to enslave us?" Gazzy exclaimed angrily.

"Well, do you have a better idea?" Nudge asked.

"No..." He trailed off.

"Anyway, moving on." Ella interrupted.

"What time is it?" Fang asked.

"Summer time," Iggy replied seriously.

"Did I miss the memo that it's High School Musical day?" Nudge asked.

"Yes, you must have... I was sure I sent it to everyone." I replied jokingly.

"Yeah, I got it." Angel said, playing along.

"So did I!" Iggy added, and Ella nodded in agreement.

"Uh, huh. I think everyone got it but you." Gazzy told Nudge.

"Oh my gosh, that's sooo embarrassing!" She squealed.

"Nudge, keep calm and carry on, it's not High School Musical day!" I said laughing.

She glared at all of us. "I can't believe you guys tricked my like that! Here I was, all excited that it was High School Musical day, and it turns out you guys were lying." She was obviously fighting a smile, so I knew she wasn't really angry.

"5:47" I stated.

"What? That makes no sense! We were talking about High School Musical, my most favorite movie ever!" Iggy exclaimed.

"Really? It's your favorite movie ever?" I asked him. "Anyway, Fang asked what time it is."

"Yeah, before our long discussion." Ella elaborated.

"Ah. I see."

"Kay, I better get home for dinner. And I still have to do homework." Fang told me.

"Ok, we better leave too."

The entire five minute walk to Fang's house, Nudge grumbled about High School Musical day. Finally, I'd had enough.

"Oh, my god Nudge! There's no High School Musical day, get over it!" I yelled.

"Whoa," Fang put a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down."

"Sorry, it was really getting on my nerves."

"Fine, I'll never talk about HSM day again." Nudge promised.  
"Thank you." Relief showed on my face.

"See you tomorrow." Fang told me over his shoulder as he walked away.

"Kay, bye!" I called after him

What an eventful day.

**A/N: Hi again! Tired of me yet? I bet you are, that was a long A/N. Anyway, just wanna say that I sorta kinda like HSM. Jk, I ****_used_**** to. But I still watch it sometimes and make fun of it. If you guys like it, cool! If you don't, also cool! I mean, we can all still be friends right? Even though I don't know you. Anywho, BYE! **

**Volare su**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Ugh, Friday. I know what you guys are thinking, but Max! Friday is amazing! Well, I have a date tonight. And don't even say that you would love to have a date, I know that, I'm just not a normal person. Anyway, Nudge finally convinced me to go. She said that if I didn't have fun I could always not go out with Sam again. Yeah... Hey, maybe instead of talking to the imaginary audience I have in my head, I should start a blog! Wait, I don't do anything, so the poor people who follow my blog would be like, "This chic needs to get a life!" So I guess I'll just continue talking to you, imaginary audience in my head! Where was I? Oh yeah, spazzing because of my date with Sam. What am I going to do? As aforementioned, I can't talk to guys in a one-on-one date atmosphere. If I talk about myself I'll sound conceited, but it would be kinda stalker if I keep asking about him! Maybe I can borrow one of Nudge's or Ella's magazines. They have guy advice. Oh my god, I really need to calm down! Breathe. I told myself. I took a few deep breathes and stopped pacing around my room, which I hadn't realized I was doing.

"Max, can I come in?" Ella asked. I guess Nudge told her.

"Sure." I replied and sat down. Ella walked in and looked at me, "You ok? You look like you're about to puke or pass out."

"That's pretty much how I feel." I said shakily.

"Keep calm, it's gonna be totally awesome." She advised. "Look, you go out to dinner, talk a little while you're waiting for food, and when the food comes you don't have to talk, just eat! But don't eat like you normally do, cause it's kinda gross." She told me with a smile.

"Ok..." I run a hand through my hair, thinking. "What should I talk about?"

"Tell him about yourself, ask about him, find things you have in common, be yourself," She told me.

"Cool, and if we run out of things to talk about?"

"I don't know, funny things that happened during the day?" She suggested. "You'll be fine, lemme go get Nudge, she wants to help with wardrobe."

"Send her in." I replied, bored. "And thanks."

"Welcome," She responded with a smile. "NUDGE!"

She was there in about five seconds flat. "Sheesh, didn't have to yell." She told Ella good-naturedly.

Ella rolled her eyes at me and walked out. "So, I'm thinking sort of casual, sort of fancy, and I may curl you hair..." Nudge looked at the ceiling, thinking. "Got it!" She exclaimed then headed towards my closet. Oh no, I'm getting nervous again.

"Nudge," I said weakly. "You really don't have to-"

"Yes, I really do." She cut me off, then turned back to the closet. After some searching, she had found what she was looking for. "Put these on," Nudge instructed, handing me a pile of clothes. Oh good, pants and a shirt, no skirts or dresses. Thank the lord. I put on the simple black skinny jeans and a loose, semi-see through white shirt with a cami. I looked at her and she said, "good" while taking out her curling iron and plugging it in. After a good thirty minutes of curling, and me praying she didn't burn my neck or ear, my hair was done. Then she grabbed a bottle of hairspray and had me cover my eyes. About a minute of spritzing later, I uncovered my eyes.

"Hey, I look good with curly hair!" I told her happily.

"Yep!" She replied, obviously pleased. "Now for the makeup." She did my makeup, cause I'm too lazy. "And here are your shoes." She handed me silver flats. Wow! No skirt, dress, or heels! I'm amazed. I slipped my feet into them and stood up.

"Beautiful," she told me after looking me over. "You could be a model, thin, tall, pretty."

"Yes, but then I'd have to wear uncomfortable clothing everyday, and people would stare at me and judge me. So, no."

"Fine," Nudge said, giggling. "Just saying. Oh, almost forgot!" She handed me a small, silver purse to take with me.

"Thanks." I told her, and gave her a hug.

"Have fun on your date!" She said, waggling her eyebrows.

"I'll try," I promised, and walked downstairs.

* * *

"So, what looks good?"

"Everything," I responded truthfully. I was sitting in White Orchids Thai Cuisine with Sam. Smancy name, I know. It's a pretty fancy place, but not a really fancy, wear dresses and suits kinda thing. Moving on. All the food looked delicious, I didn't know what to get. I'm not a picky eater, at all. "But I'm leaning towards the garlic and Thai basil salmon filet."  
"That sounds good," Sam said with a smile, "I think I'll have the crab fried rice. You like seafood? Not a lot of people do."

"Yeah, I like pretty much any kind of food." I told him. So far so good. Well, we've only been here like five minutes, but still.

"That's cool." Awkward silence.

"So... You like music?" I asked, remembering him singing at the karaoke place.

"Yeah, I love to listen to music. And I've done theater since middle school, so I'm a pretty good singer." He shrugged his shoulders, "And you? You're a great singer."

"Thanks," I replied. I'm pretty sure I blushed. "I like to listen to music too, but that was actually my first time actually singing alone."

"Really? I guess you're just a natural." Sam told me with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess so." I agreed with a nod. Another awkward silence. Tell him about yourself, ask about him, find things you have in common, be yourself. Ella's words came back to me. Ok, uh... My mind was blank. Why? Come on Max, think!

"May I take your order?" Yes! saved by the waitress!

"Yes, I'll have the crab fried rice and the chicken salad, Max?" he asked, looking at me.

"Oh, uh, I'll have the garlic and Thai basil salmon filet and the crispy spinach salad." I told her, blushing. I was totally out of it. I need to pay more attention!

"Will that be all?" Yes, just leave already! Gosh, these people annoy me!

"Yes, thank you." I told her politely, trying to smile.

After she left, Sam looked at me nervously, "Are you ok?" He asked, concerned.

"Yeah, fine, waiters and waitresses just annoy me. They're always smiling and happy to help you. Downright irritating." I grumbled.

He laughed and grinned at me. "I know what you mean, sometimes they never shut up, I'm like 'It's ok, we're fine, you can leave now.'"

A nearby waiter heard us talking and glared at us. When he was done taking the people's order, he stalked away.  
"Oops! I think we were talking to loud." I told him, blushing furiously.

"Yeah... Oh well, nothing we can do about it now." He said with a shrug. I decided he's nice, easygoing. I could be myself around him. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

We talked until our food came. I found out that he plays soccer, has an older and younger sister, and a dog. We laughed about the kid in my gym class who imitated the teacher and had to do fifty push-ups as a punishment. Note to self: Don't mess with gym teacher unless you want to do forty more push-ups than you can. He was in the middle of a story about his english class and a rubber chicken, when our waitress set our food down in front of us. She looked a little tense and kinda peeved off, so I guess the waiter told her what we said. Uh-oh.

"Thanks, it looks great!" I told her sincerely.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "And sorry if we offended you, we were talking about the waiters and waitresses at Olive Garden they don't know how to take a hint. You are much better."

She smiled at him and said, "Enjoy your meal!"

Waiting until she was out of earshot, I leaned over the table and whispered, "Boy, you know how to lie!"

"Thanks, just sparing her feelings." I nodded and we dug in. For a while all you could hear wa chewing, the clink of silverware on the plates, and the murmuring of other people's conversations. When I finished, I sat back and sighed, content.

"You eat fast, you know that?" Sam told me, nodding at my plate. I noticed he was only half done.

"Oh, yeah. My family tells me that pretty much every day." I replied, smiling slightly.

"At least you actually eat. A lot of girls would eat half a salad and claim they're full."

"Yeah, I have no idea how they can do that! Aren't they starving? I love food too much not to eat it."

"Exactly." He smiled at me then ate some more. I sat there feeling awkward, occasionally taking sips of my water. Finally he finished and said, "Well, I'm full. But you can get dessert if you want."

"Hmm... Very tempting." I told him with a laugh. "How about I get something and you can have a taste of it. I know I always have to sample everyone's desserts!"

"Deal."

I got the homemade Thai cake a la mode, because I love ice cream and cake together. We ended up splitting it in half, because it was so delicious. Sam paid for the check, and I didn't argue, 'cause I'm broke. Nudge made me spend all of my money on clothes, remember? Then we went outside to wait for his sister to pick us up.

"Come on, I don't have all night!" She complained when we got in.

"Calm down Alyssa, where do you have to be anyway?"

She mumbled something about a party and pulled out onto the highway. She drove pretty fast so we got to my house in about five minutes. Wow, that's a new record! I started to panic when Sam walked me to the door. Ohmygosh, isn't this the part where the guy kisses the girl. No. Freaking. Way. Uh, no. Sorry, but Maximum Ride does not do kissing.

"Uh, thanks. I had fun." I told him nervously. I glanced towards the window, I didn't see anyone inside, why can't someone come out and save me?!

"Yeah, me too. Maybe we could do it again sometime."

"Sure," I told him, thinking I was off the hook until he leaned in and gave me a quick peck on the check. I blushed and he said, "Gotta go, see you in school."

"Bye," I said, and turned to go inside. As soon as I opened the door, a mass of curly black hair attacked me.

"So, how was it? Did you have fun? Did you talk to him? Are you going on another date soon? Did he kiss you?" Nudge bombarded me with questions.

"Um, seeing as I forgot what you just asked because you were talking too fast..."

"How was it, did you have fun, did you actually talk to him, did he ask you out again, and did he kiss you?" She repeated slowly.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes." I replied super fast. Maybe she wouldn't hear the last yes.

"Oh my gosh! He kissed you? How was it? Did you kiss him back?"

"It was nothing, just a little peck on the lips." I told her, blushing.

"A kiss isn't nothing Max! Sometimes I really worry about you."

"Did I hear someone say kiss?" My mom asked, walking in. Oh, my god. At least Jeb isn't home.

"What?!" Ella screamed from upstairs, then came pounding down. "I heard kiss. Max! Did Sam kiss you?"

"Oh my gosh, why do you guys care?" I asked, mortified.

"It's a pretty big deal, Max." My mom told me.

"Ok, ok, it was just a peck on the lips, nothing special, can I go to bed now?" I asked.

Ella was jumping up and down she and Nudge started chanting, "He kissed you! He kissed you!"

"Girls, be quiet, you'll wake up the neighborhood." Mom told them. "That's great Max, did you have fun?"

"Yeah, the food was great. It was fun."

"Ok, you can go to bed now."

"Good, Nudge, Ella, don't forget, concert tomorrow." I reminded them. We had decided to tell Ella we were taking her, because it would be kind of suspicious if we sprang it on her at the last minute.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, can't wait!" Ella said excitedly.

"Yep! It's gonna be tons of fun." Nudge agreed with a wink at me. I smiled at her.

"Kay, night!" I walked to the bathroom, washed the makeup off my face, quick brushed my teeth, changed into my pajamas and fell on my bed. What a day.

**A/N: Ok, first: YAY! I updated! told you I would! Second: I may not update as often because I'm really busy with homework and school and band and life, so yeah. Deal with it. Third: I know that a lot of you won't like this chapter because you are most likely reading this story for the FAX. Sorry I'm not sorry. But I decree that there shall be FAX, cause there has to be and they're so cute together! :D Omg, I'm such a fangirl. Anyway, building up to the Fax, so keep calm it's gonna be totally awesome! That's all, so bye for now! Adios! Hasta luego! Ta ta for now!**

**Volare su **


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"WOOHOO! We're going to a coooncert! We're gonna have fuuun!" Nudge sang.

"Yes yes, we heard the first seven times," my mom told her. I am currently sitting in my mom's car with Nudge and Ella, on our way to the concert. Just FYI.

"Well it's true!" Nudge retorted.

"Very," I agreed, nodding my head solemnly.

"Ok, just stick together, don't wander off, and text me or call me when it's over."

"Yes, we heard you the first seven times too," Ella reminded her.

"I just want you guys to be safe."

"We know. We'll be fine, I have mad kung fu skills!" I told her.

She laughed. "Ok, but I don't recall you ever taking lessons..."

"I learned from the movies."

"Ahh." Riveting conversation, I know. I'm so excited for the concert! for many different reasons too! 1) Music, duh 2) Concerts are fun! 3) Getting Ella and Iggy together, the entire point of going to this concert. OHMYGOODNESS! SQUIRREL! Sorry, I just saw a squirrel! They're just so cute and fluffy!

"Did you guys just see that squirrel?!" I asked them excitedly.

"Uh, no. What about it?" Nudge asked curiously.

"IT WAS ADORABLE!" I yelled.

"Ok, keep calm and carry on!" Ella looked surprised.

I took a few deep breaths and sat back against the seat. "I'm good now."

"You sure?" Nudge asked, "You seem a little tense."

"Perfectly fine," I assured her. I guess I was tense. Homework and tests are stressing me out, the whole Sam thing, not even going to think about that, and, I don't know, just having a bad day. I had like, absolutely no matching socks this morning, so I had to dig through the laundry. Then I was out of toothpaste. I accidently put way too much pepper on my eggs this morning. My math homework is impossible. Lunch was great, but that's beside the point. Just, not the best day for Maximum Ride, let me tell you. But then I watched Jenna Marbles for an hour and cheered up considerably. But enough about my crappy day, we're here.

"YAY! FINALLY!" Nudge yelled and jumped out of the car. Ella and I followed, but I stuck my head back in the car. "See you later, I'll watch out for them."

"Thanks Max, have fun!" Mom told me.

"I plan to!" I jogged to catch up to Ella and Nudge who hadn't realized that I wasn't following. Well, they would realize soon enough, because I had all the tickets. I handed them to the ticket guy and he told us to enjoy the concert, then we went through the cool turnstile thingies. They're so awesome!

"Whoa, lot of people here."

"All Time Low is a pretty popular band, what did you expect, like twenty people?" Nudge asked me.

"No!" I retorted. "And you don't have to be so mean about it." I added defensively.

"Ok," She said, holding her hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, just not having a great day." I told her apologetically.

"It's fine."

"Oh my gosh, what are the chances of seeing you here!" Someone shouted from behind us. I spun around, instantly on alert. Little quirk I have.

"Oh, Iggy. Fang," I said in relief. I don't know who I expected. Fang raised an eyebrow and Iggy snorted and said, "That's all I get? No 'Hey Iggy! I missed you so much I haven't seen you in forever!' Shows how much I'm loved."

I hugged him, "Better?"

"Yup!" Then he hugged Ella and Nudge. "So, how have my gals been?"

Nudge opened her mouth to say something. If she mentioned my date I would kill her. But Fang saved me.

"You guys hug Iggy but not me? That hurts my soul."  
"You don't like hugs," I told him.

"Ok, fine, just make up excuses." What's up with this completely un-Fanglike behavior?

I hugged him, "There, I hugged you. Nudge, Ella." They hugged him too.

"Ok, better now."

"Who are you and what have you done with Fang?" I hissed to him.

"Iggy and I made a bet that I couldn't act like him for the night. I want to win."

"How much did you bet?"

"Sixty bucks."

"Dude! What's wrong with you? You're never gonna win."

"Whatever you say, Jamie." He winked and laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm obviously not Jamie, check out my outfit." T-shirt, jeans, and Converse.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot, Jamie's way more fashionable than that."

"Thanks, very nice of you. Guess you really want to be my slave."

"What, did I insult you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean too."

"Whatever, we're getting left behind." We walked towards Ella, Iggy, and Nudge, who were waiting for us. "Fang's suffering from a multiple-personality disorder this evening, no big deal." I told them.

"Ahh, that explains the hugging and display of emotions," Iggy said with a wink. Fang glared at him. Well, it's his fault he made the stupid bet in the first place.

"When do they go on again?" Ella asked.

"Uh, 8:30 I think," It was 8:15 now.

"Affirmative," Iggy agreed.

"Shall we go over yonder?" Fang asked. What does yonder even mean? We walked a little closer to the stage, passing food and drink stands along the way. I would drag Fang and Nudge with me to get some food during the concert to get Iggy and Ella alone. We talked a little about school and what teachers we had in middle school that Nudge and Ella have.

"Mr. Creed was the worst." Fang told them. "We took notes, then while we were walking out the door he told us that we had a test the next day. And he graded really hard too."

"Yeah, We both have him for science, did any of you have-" Nudge was cut off by the ringing of a microphone. God I hate that sound, it's the worst.

"Good evening everyone!" Applause and screams met Alex Gaskarth the lead singer's, announcement. "How we all doing tonight?" More screaming and applause. "You guys just gonna cheer for everything I say?" A much louder round of clapping and screaming answered him. "Cool, hope you enjoy the concert! This first song is called 'Therapy.'" Yet again, you guessed it, screaming and applause. Look, I'm getting tired of saying this, how about you guys just assume that everything they say and after every song people freak out, okay? Anyway, love this song! (A/N: Just a reminder, it helps to listen to the song while you read it, or you could just skip over the lyrics all together.)

_My ship went down, in a sea of sound._  
_When I woke up alone I had everything;_  
_A handful of moments, I wished I could change,_  
_And a tongue like a nightmare, that cut like a blade._  
_In a city of fools, I was careful and cool,_  
_But they tore me apart like a hurricane._  
_A handful of moments, I wished I could change,_  
_But I was carried away._

_Give me therapy, I'm a walking travesty,_  
_But I'm smiling at everything._  
_Therapy, you were never a friend to me,_  
_And you can keep all your misery._

He stopped singing for a little while the music played.

_My lungs gave out, as I faced the crowd._  
_I think that keeping this up could be dangerous._  
_I'm flesh and bone, I'm a rolling stone,_  
_And the experts say I'm delirious._

_Give me therapy, I'm a walking travesty,_  
_But I'm smiling at everything._  
_Therapy, you were never a friend to me,_  
_You can take back your misery._

_Arrogant boy, love yourself so no one has to._  
_They're better off without you._  
_Arrogant boy, cause a scene like you're supposed to._  
_They'll fall asleep without you._  
_You're lucky if your memory remains._

_Give me therapy, I'm a walking travesty,_  
_But I'm smiling at everything._  
_Therapy, you were never a friend to me,_  
_You can take back your misery._

_Therapy, I'm a walking travesty,_  
_But I'm smiling at everything._  
_Therapy, you were never a friend to me,_  
_You can choke on your misery._

Isn't that song so happy?! I don't know why I like it so much. Kinda depressing... Oh well! After a few more songs, I decided I was hungry. "Hey Fang, wanna go get food and drinks?" I raised and lowered my eyebrows, probably looking like a crazy person. He laughed, "Kay, I'll get Nudge, I assume Iggy and Ella aren't joining us?"

"Nope," I popped the 'p'.

He turned, tapped Nudge's shoulder and said something to her. She bounced over to me, grinning. "So, it's time to put our plan into action?" She asked.

"I thought it was in action when we got here."

"Well, fully into action." She amended.

"Yes, I suppose so." We trooped over to the snack stand, where there was a semi-long line. "Enjoying the concert so far?" I asked Fang and Nudge.

"Yeah! I only knew a few of the songs they played so far, but they're really good! This is so much fun, can we go to concerts more often? Oh wait, when we have our own band we'll be putting on the concerts. I can't wait!" Nudge exclaimed.

"Hey, I still didn't agree to the band thing yet," I told her.

"Ahh, come on Maxie, it'll be fun," Fang's Iggy impersonation is really good.

"I'm Max, not Maxie," I spat. "And I can't even play an instrument, and I'm also not a good singer."

"Are you kidding? You're amazing!" Fang told me in surprise.

"Yeah, ok." I said nonchalantly.

"No, really Max, you're a great singer! And it shouldn't be too hard to learn to play the guitar, right Fang?" Nudge asked.

"No, it's pretty easy." Says the boy who's played guitar for like six years.

"Ugh, I need to think about it."

"Take your time," Nudge told me.

Eventually we reached the counter. "A lemonade and a funnel cake please." I love funnel cake, it's like, fried dough with powdered sugar. Sorry, that's what it actually is. It's like, heaven. No, too dramatic... Like, like-

"That'll be twelve dollars," the dude startled me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, what?"

"That'll be twelve dollars." He repeated impatiently.

"That's way too expensive!"

"Look kid, pay or leave, you're holding up the line."

Grumbling, I fished and ten and a five out of my pocket and slapped it onto the counter. He handed me my funnel cake and lemonade and I said, "Thank you so much," as sweetly as I could. Then I stood there staring at him until Fang and Nudge got their orders. He looked like he wanted to strangle me. As soon as we stepped away I started laughing. "He looked... so pissed off!" I choked out between laughs.

"I can't take you anywhere," Fang told me with a grin. "You harass poor innocent people."

"Sorry, those prices were outrageous."

"What'd you expect? To pay two bucks? These people try to get as much money as possible."

"Mph," I agreed, my mouth full of funnel cake. I swallowed. "Ow, that's hot!"  
"No duh, they just made it," Nudge told me. "Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom, be right back."

"Ok, we'll be right here." She walked away, and I was about to tell Fang to quit laughing at me when I heard a all too familiar voice from behind me. A shiver ran down my spine.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Maximum Ride."

**A/N: Ohmygoodness! Cliff hanger! I hate those, but hey. So, I need two things. One, tell me your guesses about who freaked out Max so much and two, I need to know if they should form a band. I really can't decide, and since you're the ones reading it, I want your input! Please review, and INNER PEACE!**

**Volare su! **


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**A/N: I'm back! I bet some of you are going "Darn! I thought we would never hear from her again!" Oh well! Sorry it's been so long, I'm not sure how many of you were effected (or is it affected?) by Hurricane Sandy, but I know I was big time. Tons of trees falling everywhere, mostly on power lines, causing our power to be out from Monday to yesterday (Sunday) at one. It. Sucked. But I spazzed out when it came back on because I was so happy! I was, however, able to write while it was out, yay! So... yeah. Hope you like the chapter, tell me about the band thing, cause I can't decide, and you're the ones reading the story! Oh, my simpathies go out to those who were affected/effected by Hurricane Sandy! **

I spun around and growled, "Ari."

"Now, now, Max. No growling," He teased. "I just want to introduce you to my friends here."

I glanced at them, all tall, muscular, and scary looking. Yay! Don't you just love it when the guys whose tortured you for two years gets large, threatening friends? I sure don't. "Hmm, let me think. No, I'd rather not, see, I'm not real good at names, and I'll forget them and just be embarrassed when I run into you again and have to awkwardly call them 'you' or 'dude.' Way too embarrassing."

"Well I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice," Ari snarled.

"Ok, lets get this over with. I'm Max, I enjoy long walks on the beach and romantic candle-lit dinners." Fang snorted beside me, and I elbowed him.

"And you are?" Ari asked, stepping closer to Fang.

"Billy Bob Joe," He replied with a straight face. I looked at Ari, expecting him to get angry, instead he gestured to his gang and said, "Blake, Paul, Ratchet, and Jimmy." Oh my god, he believed Fang's lie! Then again, he isn't really the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Charmed, I'm sure, but I sort of have to get going..." I told him. Maybe he'd let us go, hopefully.

"Sure, but one more thing. Just something to remember us by. Paul?"

One of the boy stepped forward and smiled at me. He had brown hair and, wait, why do I care? I tensed, wondering what he would do. Probably punch me. Hmm, fight back, or not? Fight back and they'll all attack me, but- Something flashed by my face, but I quickly turned my head. His fist still clipped my jaw and there was a burst of pain. Ok, fight back it is. I kicked as hard as I could in his general direction and I got his leg. While he wa still in shock, I quickly drew my arm back and hit his shoulder as hard as I could. I sensed someone behind me, and I spun around to see Fang pounding two guys. "Keep up the good work." I told him, and looked to find Ari and the other guy. I spun in a complete circle before I saw them. They were coming at me from different directions, each pounding a hand with their fists. "How cliche," I said, before delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to the other guy. I'm gonna call him Pansy, because he's pretty delicate. Ok, so I know some self defense, sue me! Well, maybe a lot, but a girl needs to know how to defend herself. It's sure coming in handy now.

"Maxie knows how to play!" Ari hissed.  
"Don't. Call. Me. Maxie!" I spat, punching him with every word. He glared at me and said, "C'mon guys, we're leaving, for now."

"Yeah, call me when you want to get beaten up again! My number is 123-456-7890." I told them cheerfully.

A few of them limped while they walked, haha!

"You ok?" Fang asked, looking concerned. I assessed the damage.

"Yeah, Maybe a few bruises, not to bad. When is Ari gonna learn not to touch the merchandise?"

"How do you know him?"

"Oh, you know. Ran into him once, pissed him off, got into a fight, now he hates me. I have no idea why."

"Max, this isn't right, what if he really hurts you? Have you told anyone, how long has this been going on?" Fang walked closer to me and grabbed my shoulders gently. "Max, tell me."

"Two years," I mumbled. "But he really only tried to beat me up three times, and I was always able to stop him. He doesn't hurt me too much." For some reason I couldn't meet Fang's eyes, so I looked at his shoulder.

"Look at me," He turned my head so I was looking at his face. "We're going to tell someone, and that's never happening again, ok?"

"Ok," I said quietly. "We better find Nudge, she's probably still in the bathroom, checking her makeup or something. Speaking of, do I have a bruise on my face?"

Fang tilted my head again so he could see where Paul hit me. He frowned slightly. "Yeah, why do you- oh, right, makeup to cover it up. Duh."

"Yep, lemme go find her." I walked over to the bathroom, as I opened the door I bumped into someone. Nudge.

"I'm so sorry! Oh hey Max! What happened to your face?" She looked concerned.

"I, uh, tripped," I said quickly.

"Max, sometimes you are a really bad liar, what really happened?" I told her, I didn't have any reason to hid the truth from her anyway, she knew about Ari. Nudge was to only person I told, and even though she talks a lot, she never told anyone.

When I was done, she sighed. "Max," She began.

"Don't worry, Fang's already having me report them." Good thing I have a great memory for names. I was lying before.

She hesitated, "Well, ok, now lets get you fixed up." She brought me into the harsh, fluorescent light. Then she pulled what looked like concealer out of her purse. Thank god it was in my skin tone, Nudge's and my skin tone aren't exactly the same. A few minutes later she was done. "Thank you."

"No problem, lets get back to that concert!" Oh yeah, in the midst of everything I completely forgot that we were at a concert. They we halfway through their song, Dear Maria.

_'Cause I got your picture_  
_I'm coming with you_  
_Dear Maria, count me in_  
_There's a story at the bottom of this bottle_  
_And I'm the pen_  
_Make it count when I'm the one_  
_Who's selling you out_  
_'Cause it feels like stealing hearts_  
_Calling your name from the crowd_  
_Whoa..._

_Ha ha.._

_Take a breath, don't it sound so easy_  
_Never had a doubt_  
_Now I'm going crazy watching from the floor_  
_Take a breath and let the rest come easy_  
_Never settle down_  
_'Cause the cash flow leaves me always wanting more_

_'Cause I got your picture_  
_I'm coming with you_  
_Dear Maria, count me in_  
_There's a story at the bottom of this bottle_  
_And I'm the pen_  
_Make it count when I'm the one_  
_Who's selling you out_  
_'Cause it feels like stealing hearts_  
_Calling your name from the crowd_

_'Cause I got your picture_  
_I'm coming with you_  
_Dear Maria, count me in_  
_There's a story at the bottom of this bottle_

They just finished when we reached Iggy and Ella. And we were just in time for something else too. What is it you ask? Aw, nothing, Iggy just kissed her, no big deal. Psyche! It is such a big deal! Even though it was only a little kiss. Nudge squealed, I clapped, and Fang wolf-whistled.

"Boy, we can't leave you two alone for..." He checked his watch. "Fifteen, twenty minutes without you falling all over eachother," Fang slowly shook his head. "I truly don't know what we're going to do with you."

Ella blushed but Iggy said, "And what exactly have you been doing this whole time?"

"We were getting food. I had funnel cake, which was delicious and hot, and lemonade, which I practically chugged. The Fangalator-" He glared at me but I continued, "Had a hot dog and water, which is pretty much all he drinks for some reason, the weirdo, and Nudge just had water because she didn't want to ruin her makeup by eating."

"And there is no evidence of this?" Iggy asked teasingly.

"Nope! We eat and drink pretty fast, and there are these things called trash cans that you throw your plates and cups into, ever heard of them?" Except my trash wasn't in the trash can, because I sorta lost my funnel cake when Ari attacked us. That poor, poor funnel cake. Probably getting stepped on.

"Yes I have, seeing as I'm going to be a garbage man when I'm older!" Iggy informed us.

"You are? Gross, why?" Nudge asked.

"Well, I don't have the best grades, and I may find free stuff!"

"Ew!" Ella said, "don't make me dump you."

"Hey, hey, hey, who said you were going out? Besides, he may find a ring in there, so you guys can get engaged." I told her.

"Yeah, a ring pop," Fang snorted.

"Yo, argument later, concert now." Nudge said. "This is the last song." The band started playing, so I guess Alex already announced that this was the last song of the night. **(A/N: Too Much by, obviously, All Time Low)**

_I admit, I miss seeing your face babe, (seeing your face babe)_

_And being alone is starting to take its toll, (toll)_

_I'm cold and it's getting old, (getting old)_

_I admit, (I admit) I should have made some changes. (changes)_

_We were so smothered in love,_

_We didn't have a chance to come up for air (no fair)_

_What a waste, where did the time go?_

_Where did our minds go? I don't know._

_What's this place? Where did our home go?_

_We won't know, I don't know._

_Too much of anything is too much,_

_Too much love can be too much,_

_We had too much time, too much us,_

_So we fought like tomorrow was promised_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Much, much too much_

_I admit, I'm still watching the days go by, (watching the days go by)_

_And sleeping alone is starting to break me down. (down)_

_It's cold, but I should have known. (should have known)_

_I admit, (I admit) I made a few mistakes, babe, (babe [x3])_

_We were so caught up in love,_

_We didn't have a chance to come up for air..._

_What a waste, where did the time go?_

_Where did our minds go? I don't know._

_What's this place? Where did my heart go?_

_We'll never know, I'll never know..._

_Too much of anything is too much,_

_Too much love can be too much,_

_We had too much time, too much us,_

_So we fought like tomorrow was promised_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Much, much too much_

_I need to find a reason to feel,_

_Like everything was meant to be let go,_

_Take it slow, 'cause I can't be on my own._

_Too much of anything is too much, (it's just too much)_

_Too much love can be too much, (it's just too...)_

_We had too much time, too much us,_

_So we fought like tomorrow was promised_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Too much, too much, too much, too much_

_Much, much too much_

Everyone clapped and screamed again, including me. "That was the last song of the night! Hope you guys enjoyed the concert, we're selling signed CDs and t-shirts by the snack stand-" Ah the sales pitch. Don't you just love it? I wonder how much he gets paid to say that. I sent my mom a quick text to say that Iggy's mom was going to take us home.

"So, did all of you have fun?" I asked.

"Yup! It convinced me that we absolutely have to form a band!" Nudge told me. Not this again.

"Let's talk about that later, ok?" I asked, trying not to scream.

"I don't know Max, I think it's a great idea!" Ella squealed.

"Yeah, it'd be so fun!" I looked at Iggy, but he was laughing with his arm around Ella. Did Fang really just say that? Wow, he may win the bet after all.

I looked at him, "That was uncanny." I informed him. "But completely unlike you. What's so great about forming a band? You like to be in the background, but people will notice you when you're onstage."

"I don't know, just seems like fun, live a little Max," Fang rolled his eyes.

"I do live-" Thankfully my lame excuse for what fills my empty existence was cut off by Iggy's mom arriving. Good, it was a long night.

**Volare su**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that we have a three day weekend because of Columbus day. YAY! Just what I needed. I need to catch up on sleep and homework and rest. But my life has other plans, of course. My phone vibrated in my pocket, so I took it out yo see who texted me. Fang. What does he want? I told him I was gonna do nothing all weekend, so why the h is he bothering me? _Max, need to show you something, come over when you can._ This better be important. "Mom! I'm going to Fang's! Be back by six!" I yelled.

"Ok, have fun!" She yelled back from upstairs. I walked outside with my hands in my pockets. It was pretty nice out, a little chilly. Just thought you'd want to know. When I walked up to Fang's front door, I heard something strange from inside. It sounded like... barking... That's weird. Wait a minute, did Fang get a dog! Omg, that's so cool! now I'm happy I came.

Before I had a chance to knock, the door opened, showing Fang holding back a black dog. Big surprise there. "So I guess you don't need a doorbell anymore?" I asked teasingly.

"No, he takes care of that, come in." I stepped in and the dog was all over me. I knelt down and let him sniff me while I scratched his head. "What's his name?" I asked, looking up at Fang.

"Sirius, you know, like Sirius Black. I thought he looked like him, so that's his name."

"Cool," Fang's favorite book series is Harry Potter. I'm not that into it, but he made me watch some of the movies. "Where'd you get him?"

"The pound, every time I see one of those commercials with the shelter animals I always want to adopt one. I finally convinced my mom."

"Awesome! I've always wanted a pet, but Jeb's allergic. What kind is he?"

"Not sure. They said he's a chow chow black lab cross, but I'm calling him a half-blood."

"Wow, you are so obsessed with Harry Potter it's not even funny."

"What can I say, I value quality." We went to the living room, because kneeling by the front door was kind of awkward. Sirius was right at my heels, I think that dog likes me. When we sat down he curled up at my feet, and I reached down to pet him. "I'm jealous," Fang told me. "I think he likes you more than he likes me."

"What can I say, he values quality!" I smirked at him, and he glared at me. We sat in comfortable silence for a little, before Fang suggested that we take Sirius for a walk, and I agreed. "We can introduce him to Iggy, and I bet Angel will love him!" I said.

After Fang put a leash on him we set off. It doesn't take too long to get to Iggy's house, but Sirius had to check out all the other yard, and god forbid he saw a squirrel. When we finally got there, Fang and I were pretty tired from chasing every squirrel Sirius saw. Let the record show that when I walked him he was perfectly fine, which made Fang pretty mad. "It's not his fault he has good taste Fangles." I said after I took the leash and Sirius kept pace with me, not running ahead.

"Fangles?" Fang looked at me weird.

"Yeah, I'm trying out some nicknames for your nickname. I have some for Sirius already, Padfoot and Snuffles."

"Yeah, I thought of those too, but why does my nickname need a nickname? And why are they embarrassing?"

"Because of reasons!" I replied playfully.

"Ok, fine, I'll just deny I know you if you ever call me something other than Fang."

"Sure, Fangy, Fangles, Fangaroo, Fangalator."

"La la la, I can't hear you!" He said with a big smile.

"Yes you can!"

"No I can't!"

"Then why did you reply to what I just said?" I asked with a smirk.

"I saw your big mouth move," He replied matter-of-factly.

"Gasp! That was rude! Now I'm going to have to kick your butt." I informed him.

"If you can catch me." He ran ahead, leaving me with Sirius.

"Go get the squirrel Sirius!" I said, laughing and pointing at Fang. Sirius took off running like his life depended on it, dragging me along. We caught up to Fang right outside of Ig's house. Perfect. I kicked Fang, "Gotcha!"

"You cheated, I saw Sirius pulling you most of the way."

"Never said I couldn't use the dog, actually, you never made any rules, just that I had to catch you, which I did." He just rolled his eyes and went to knock on the door.

"Hello party people, you're about to enter La Casa del Iggy. Are you ready for the time of your lives?"

"I'm a little too tired to party, sorry Igs." I informed him, panting.

"Oh my goshness! Maxie! When did you get that adorable dog?"

"When I went to Fang's house, he's giving out free dogs, better hurry, they're going fast. You should see this one run."

"Seriously! I better grab Angel."

"No, I'm kidding. He's Fang's, can't you tell by the color?" I gestured to Sirius's black coat. "Meet Sirius Black, the newest addition to the Xavian household."

"Hey buddy! How are you doing?" Iggy knelt down and nodded slowly, like someone was talking to him. "He says that he wants to live with the Igster."

"No way dude, he's mine," Fang said, walking over to us.

"Yeah, Fang always cries when he sees those shelter commercials, so he decided to make a difference and adopt a dog." I told Iggy.

"Man, those commercials always get to me too, the sad music, cute, injured animals, I have to leave to room before I ruin my image. Give me a hug." They did one of those guy hugs, which is technically a hug, but isn't.

"We wanna join the love-fest!" I said, and we had a group hug while Sirius sniffed at us, wondering what we were doing. Then he got on his hind feet and tried to put his paws on Fang and my shoulders. "Aww! He wants to hug too!"

"Hey, what's up with all the hugging?" Gazzy asked, walking towards us while Angel peeked out the door.

"Oh, we're just talking about our feelings," I said while Iggy and Fang muttered about 'manly things.' Boys.

"Max!" Angel cried running over to me, then she saw Sirius, and her eyes light up even more, if that's possible. "Oh my gosh, that dog is so cute! What's it's name? Where'd you get it? Can I pet it?"

"His name is Sirius, he's Fang's, and yes, he loves to be petted." She gave Sirius a hug while he craned his neck, trying to smell her. She giggled and scratched his ears. "Hey Sirius! How are you? I'm Angel." She talked to him while she petted him, and he licked her face.

"He must like you a lot if he slobbers all over you, he didn't do that to me!"

Angel laughed and said, "Hey Gazzy! Come meet Sirius!"

"Who's serious?" He asked curiously, coming over.

"Sirius," I told him, pointing at the dog. "It's spelled S-i-r-i-u-s. He's a character in Harry Potter." I explained.

"Sirius is Fang's dog," Angel added.

"Oh, it makes sense now," Gazzy said, and patted Sirius. "He's so fluffy, like a pillow." And with that, Gazzy laid his head down on Sirius's back. Surprisingly, Sirius didn't do anything, he just reached around to lick Gazzy. "Hey!" He exclaimed, wiping his face with his sleeve. "I don't want a pillow that licks."

"But he's a sweet pillow that licks." I pointed out. "He could have biten you."

"I guess... Does he catch?"

"Dunno, guess we can find out. Got a ball?"

"Lemme get one." He went back into the house and came back in a few minutes with about five tennis balls. We spent about a half an hour throwing balls and having Sirius chase after them like a lunatic.

"I love this dog," I announced when we were all laying in the grass after Sirius got tired of running. He was currently laying next to me, panting and leaning on me.

"Yeah yeah, everyone wants to steal my dog," Fang grumbled.

"Yes! It's not our fault he's so lovable and cute and awesome!" Iggy said.

"Aye aye!" Gazzy agreed.

"Ditto," I said cheerfully.

"Uh huh!" Angel said.

"Well, me and my dog have to get home, it's almost supper," Fang informed us.

"Oh crap, I have to too! I'll see you guys later!" I said and jumped up, and Sirius was right at my side. He jumped up and was able to put his paws on my shoulders and he licked me right on the mouth. "Thanks, Sirius, am I your girlfriend now?" He barked at me. "I'll take that as a yes. Are you gonna walk me home?" We said goodbye to everyone and Fang, Sirius, and I set off. After a while I said, "You're jealous that I'm Sirius's girlfriend, you want me to be your girlfriend." I was kidding and Fang went along with it.

"Yup, I'm just so jealous. Of a dog." He replied with a grin.

"Yeah, I'm very desirable. All the guys fawn over me." I announced grandly.

"Uh huh, you're something alright." Fang agreed.

"I know, and you're not too bad yourself. 'Cept a lot of people think you're emo."

"I'm not," he practically growled.

"I know, but they don't. However, you are a snappy dresser."

"Why thank you, that made me day." He replied sarcastically.

"No problem, my pleasure." After that we were silent until we got back to Fang's house.

"Bye Sirius! I'll miss you!" I said, scratching his head.

"I guess I'm a wall now." Fang said.

"Well, you are silent like one, you stand still a lot, and..." I hugged him, "You don't hug. At all."

"Really?" He asked, wrapping his arms around me. Then he picked me up and swung me around.

"Hey!" I squealed. "Let me down!"

"Ok," He immediately dropped me.

"Hate you." I told him, giving him my best death glare.

"No you don't!" He replied with a grin. I truly do not understand him.****

A/N: Hello earth and all who inhabit it! Well, I guess not everyone on earth reads my story, and I bet there are a few aliens or starship rangers that feel left out right now. Hello universe and all who inhabit it! That's better. Ok, on with the author's note. So, you like Sirius? He's lovable, more lovable than my dog, the fat lazy beagle Scout, but I love him anyway. Anyway, it is my dream to adopt a mutt and name it Sirius, so I'm living my dream through Fangles. Btw, I didn't come up with those nicknames, I'm pretty sure they're all from other fanfictions. So, this chapter had a little Fax! YAY! *Fangirl scream* Ok, calm down. Inner peace. I've been pretty busy, so I may not update as often, so sorry! And I'm working on another story that I'm going to put up soon, so I have to write twice as much! So check occasionally to see if it's up, but I'll probably update this story on the same day to tell you. Feel free to review, ask questions, say hi, tell me about your day, whatever your little heart desires, as long as it's not inappropriate. PG 13 guys. Bye bye!

**Volare su**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" I said, jumping up and down and waving my arms over my head with each word. And no, I was not doing jumping jacks. My legs were together, if that makes sense. We (Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Ella, Gazzy, Angel, and I) were sitting in Fang's living room. You know, there are way to many names to say, I need to come up with something shorter... Herd? Nah. Gaggle? (of geese) No. Maybe flock... I'll have to think about it. Anyway, we're sitting in Fang's living room bored out of our minds.

"Yes Max?" Iggy asked me.

"I have something to say!" I announced.

"What?" Angel asked curiously.

"Well, since we're not doing anything, I want to tell a story."

They all raised their eyebrows. "A story," Fang repeated.

"Yup! It's good, don't worry," I assured them.

"Whatever you wish, Maxie," Iggy told me.

"Ok, here it is. Once upon a time-"

"Really?" Nudge asked, "are you seriously starting out that way?" At the word 'serious' Sirius trotted over and sat next to me. Cause for some reason that dog loves me, like a lot. I laughed and said, "just let me finish."

"Now where was I? Oh, yeah. Once upon a time, Fang, Iggy, Asher, Ryan, Damien, their friends, and J.J., Lynn, Anna, and my amazing self, were fooling around on the football field after school-"

"Ah yes, this story," Iggy said with a wicked grin. "Go on."

"Well, if you hadn't interrupted me in the first place-"

"Just tell the story!" Ella said impatiently.

"Fine. So we were tossing a football around, playing tag, kick the can, pretty much every awesome game. We were just minding our own business, having fun, when the coach an the JV football team came to practice. They told us to get off the field, so, being the good, rule abiding teenagers that we are-" Gazzy snorted and I glared at him, "we got off the field and sat in the bleachers to watch the practice. I and a few others happened to notice that some unfair stuff was going on, some of the 'favorites' didn't have to go against some on the really big guys, while the smaller kids did. This happened a few times, so I decided I should be nice and inform the coach that's he's doing something wrong. For some reason, he didn't like that very much, and he told us to get off the field. So, we all went down to the field to talk to him easier. I walked straight up to him and said 'It's not your field, we don't have to leave.'"

"He was pretty stubborn though, and insisted that we had to leave. Then Iggy walks up next to me and says 'We're allowed to be here, it's school property, and we're students.' The coach didn't seem to like that, and again he told us that we had to leave. It was actually pretty funny, his face was bright red, and he was kinda chubby so he looked sort of like a big tomato." Everyone laughed.

"So Fang comes up too, and he says 'What are you gonna do about it?' I guess we looked pretty intimidating, cause we're all pretty tall, and Asher and Ryan are on the varsity football team, and Damien's a boxer. Anyway, we're all standing there in front of this coach, looking menacing, so he gives in."

"About a week later, same thing, we're there, he shows up, but this time he has this huge scary looking guy with him. The coach starts telling us to get off the field, and I look at the guys who's supposed to be intimidating us, and I ask, "What are you doing here?" He just shrugs, so Ryan comes up, looks him in the eyes, and tells him to go. The coach just lets us play on the field now."

"That was awesome!" Nudge exclaimed, "he's totally scared of you guys."

"Yup, don't mess with Max," I replied.

"Yeah," Fang agreed sarcastically, "especially not when there's, oh, seven other people there, and some happen to be boxers and football players."

"Eight other people. Good to know you're passing math," I told him, rolling my eyes.

"I am, actually, are you?"

"Yup! Solid B, baby!"

"I got an A+" he retorted.

"Well I'm sorry we aren't all brilliant Fangles."

"Fangles?" Ella asked confused.

"It's Fang's new nickname," I explained.

"But Fang is his nickname," Gazzy said.

"It's his nickname's nickname," I clarified.

"That makes sense!" Iggy yelled, "like, your nickname is Max, but I call you Maxie."

"Exactly Ig. See, Ig is Iggy's nickname's nickname. Same as Gazzy, for The Gasman."

"And El for Ella!" Angel added, "I get it now."

"Yeah, it's not weird at all," Gazzy said sarcastically. Suddenly, we heard a snore.

"I think we bored Sirius so much that he fell asleep," I told everyone.

"Aww! That's so cute!" Nudge said, and I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Oh my goshness! I forgot that I wanted to ask you guys something!"

"We don't want to buy whatever you sell," Fang told me.

"Unless it's delicious food!" Iggy added.

"I'm not selling anything." I glared at Fang, "I just have a question."

"Go on," Ella said.

"So, saying all our names is kind of a mouthful, right?"

"Like a mouthful of pie?" Iggy asked.

"What?" Nudge said, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Sorry, I'm hungry," Iggy explained.

"We'll get you food in a minute." I promised, "ok, saying saying all our names takes up a lot of time, so we should have one shorter name."

"Like MFINEGA." Angel said. We looked at her, confused. "All our first initials, M, F, I, N, E, G, A."

"How about an actual word," Gazzy suggested.

"Iggy and the Iglets," Iggy sighed.

"No way." I told him.

"I like it!" Gazzy said. Of course.

"Not happening," Fang said.

"Fine," Gazzy and Iggy said at the same time.

"Flock," I said randomly. They all looked at me weird. "What?"

"That's genius! I can't believe you came up with it! You're not the smartest cookie on the tray you know," Nudge said.

"Smartest cookie on the tray?" Fang repeated confusedly.

"I'm hungry, and mom made cookies!" Nudge replied defensively.

"Yes, yes, we all love cookies. Why 'flock' Max?" Ella asked.

"Well, we sorta 'flock' together, like birds... and the fact that I don't think we want to be called a herd." I explained.

"Flock is good!" Angel said.

"Yeah, I like it," Gazzy agreed, and Nudge and Ella nodded.

"I still say Iggy and the Iglets." Iggy muttered stubbornly.

"Nope," Ella told him.

"But you're my girlfriend!" He fake sobbed. "You're supposed to support my ideas!"

"Sexist," Nudge said, shaking her head. Aww! She learned something from me! I'm not a useless sister after all!

"Hey," Fang said, listening carefully. "Do any of you hear a rumbling sound?"

"Sorry, my stomach wants food." Iggy replied.

"Ok, lets go get out something to eat," I said, standing up and stretching, since we've been sitting for a while.

"Make me a samich."

"Get your own samich." I replied.

"Fine, be that way!" Iggy stomped into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with two delicious looking sandwiches. "I made you one," he told me sweetly, handing me a sandwich.

I was just about to bite into it when I noticed something. "Ig, why is my sandwich ticking?"

He just smiled and said, "I'd say it's licking. Finger licking good!" he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Gazzy," I practically whined. "Is my sandwich a bomb?" I handed to him. Gaz examined it for a minute.

"Yup! It's gonna go off soon."

"Well do something!" I shrieked.

"Dude, if you blow up my house you're dead," I heard Fang tell Iggy.

"Don't worry. It won't do any damage." Iggy assured him.

"What do you mean, it's a bomb," Nudge said, looking a little worried.

"Well-" Iggy didn't get a chance to explain the bomb because my sandwich exploded in Gazzy's hands at that moment. Rainbow-colored confetti flew through the air.

"I see," Ella said, watching the confetti fall.

"Party in a bomb," Gazzy said, high-fiving Iggy. "Our newest invention."

"Your newest invention is all over my hair. Do you know how long it'll take to get all of this out?" Nudge told him. Sure enough, her hair was full of confetti, so mine probably is too. Joy.

"It's like snow!" Angel observed, and laid down to make a snow angel. We all copied her, even Fang, surprisingly. When we were done there were seven snow, excuse me confetti, angels of different sizes.

"I can't believe that worked! I thought that the confetti would just stay where it was but it moved, I'm gonna take a picture!" Nudge said, taking out her phone. After she took her pictures it was clean up time.

"Clean up, clean up! Everybody everywhere!" I sang the song from preschool, soon everyone joined in. "Clean up, clean up! Everybody do your share!" For some reason Fang's mom, Alice, has three vacuums, which made cleaning up a lot faster.

"Ugh, we're finally done!" Iggy said, flopping down on the couch about fifteen minutes later.

"We wouldn't have had to clean up if you didn't put the bomb in my sandwich in the first place," I reminded him.

"Wait a second, does that count as being mean to you?" Ella asked.

"I suppose..." I replied slowly. "Why?"

"Because if it does, he has to be your slave for the day."

Iggy's face went a little paler than usual. "I wouldn't say it was being mean, more like a friendly joke."

"Too bad, you're my slave, and I command you to make me a sandwich that does not contain a bomb, or anything besides the normal ham, salami, bologna, cheese, cheddar and american, and lettuce, white bread. No salt, pepper, or other spices or condiments. Nothing that I did not tell you to use, agreed?" I asked, trying to close all the loopholes.

"Fine," he agreed, but didn't move. "You didn't say when."

"NOW!"

"I'm going, I'm going! Jeez, don't need to be so mean about it." he grumbled, heading towards the kitchen. He came back with a truly delicious looking sandwich, which I happily ate.

"I have a feeling that today's gonna be a good day."****

A/N: ¡Hola! I sort of speak spanish... Anyway, how are my lovely readers doing today? Hopefully well. So I guess this chapter was a little bit of a filler. Maybe, kinda, sorta, a little. I hope you liked it anyway! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! A day late, but still. I hope you had fun and ate a lot of delicous food! And If you don't live in the USA, HAPPY FRIDAY! I hope it's wonderful. Thanks to everyone who commented and favorited, it makes me feel special! Again, keep your eye out for my new story, it'll probably be coming up soon! Please comment, question, review! ¡Adios!


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Well, here I am, back at school, trying to open my darn lock. No, I did not forget the combo. My lock has just decided to be a stupid jerk and not open for me even though I entered the combo correctly about seven times.

"Need some help?" someone asked from behind me. I whipped around, just Fang. Dude seriously needs to start making some noise when he moves before he give me a freaking heart attack.

"Yes please, I put the right combination in about seven times but it won't open!" I complained.

"Kay, what is it?"

"14, 25, 6" He turned it a few times then yanked down. It opened. Of course, just my luck, doesn't open for me, but makes me look like an idiot and opens for Fang. He smirked at me, "Your welcome."

"Thank you!" I said and hugged him quickly.

"No prob," He replied calmly.

"Hey Max! How are you?" Sam called, walking up to me. Fang looked a little confused, but quietly said, "see you in art."

"I'm good Sam, you?" I asked with a polite smile.

"Pretty good, heard the last Twilight movie came out, you see it?"

"You're kidding right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I know you hate that stuff." He replied with a smile.

"Yeah, I don't really do cheesy vampire romance movies," I told him with a small laugh.

"I also heard that Red Dawn came out, looks pretty good, an action movie," Sam told me.

"Ok," I said, catching on to where this was going.

"Maybe we could go see it?" he asked, "If you want, of course."

"Yeah, I'll think about it," I replied with a smile. "Got to get to class, don't want to be late for a test."

"Yeah, see you later!" I walked towards my World Cultures class, deep in thought. Red Dawn did look pretty good, and Sam's nice, but if we go on two dates we'll probably be considered boyfriend and girlfriend and I'm not sure if I like him that much and I feel like I'm sort of leading him on by being nice to him, but I don't want to be mean, because he's a nice person, I just really only like him as a friend, not as a boyfriend and I have absolutely no idea what to do! Oh my god, that was a really long run-on sentence. I have to stop hanging around Nudge.

Right before I walked in the class I had that I'm walking right into a test moment that always makes me really nervous. But when I sat down J.J. smiled at me and Iggy gave me a thumbs up and mouthed, "I'm so ready to fail this test!" I rolled my eyes. "That's great Ig," I mouthed back.

"Ok, you have the entire period for this test, take your time and don't forget to double-check your answers." Our teacher told us.

I finished my test just before the bell rang. When I walked up to the teacher's desk to hand it in, he asked, "Did you check it?"

"Of course," I scoffed. "What do you take me for? A lazy person who doesn't care about school?" He looked at me for a few seconds, but finally took my paper. I met Iggy by the door.

"Did you double-check your answers?" He asked.

"Of course not, never do, you?"

"Yes, Maximum, some of us actually like to do well in school."

"Trust me, double-checking your answers isn't gonna help you Ig, knowing you, you'll just screw them up even more."

"Most likely!" Iggy replied cheerfully, "Bye! Till lunch, when we meet again!" he anounced dramatically, which caused people to stare.

"I can hardly wait!" I replied grandly.

I headed off to art class where Fang was waiting. He smirked at me, per-usual. "So what did Sam want?" he asked. Crap. What am I supposed to tell him, I really haven't come up with a decision, and probably won't until I talk to Nudge and Ella, my advisors. I also had a feeling that Fang wouldn't like my answer if I told him the truth. So my best bet was to lie, I need something convincing...

"He asked me if I was going to the football game. Why does everyone seem to think I would want to go! I mean, seriously, I. Don't. Like. Football. Is it that hard to understand?!" I ranted, my amazing acting skills showing as I ranted about football, lying but not, cause I hate it when people ask me that question.

Fang chuckled, and shrugged. Whew! That problem was averted! We took a seat as the teacher instructed us on what to draw. We had to draw our hands. We had to put them into a position and draw it. Oh. No. Hands look a lot harder than a tissue box.

Fang had already taken his pencil and drawn an outline of his hand and it was amazing. "Fang!" I whispered across the table.

"What?" He asked.

"How do you draw a hand?"

He chuckled and told me to put my hand into a position. I did as he instructed and put it into a thumbs up.

"Just let your eyes follow the outline of your hand and draw it. It's as simple as that."

I did what he said, being the obedient student I am, and found that I could draw it fairly well.

Fang watched me and when I looked up, he nodded in approval and moved onto the next step. "Now just draw what you see, it's as simple as that." He turned back to his own drawing, and completed that in like, five seconds. Just kidding, it was more like two or three minutes.

I did it, but it wasn't the best. That's what I thought anyways. Fang told me it was great, but I thought it was just ok. When the bell rang at the end of the period, Fang and I walked to lunch together. We put our backpacks at our usual table and went over to the lunch line. Today was chicken nuggets, yay!

I grabbed two plates of them, because there are only four and they're pretty small. Then I grabbed an apple, a salad, chips, water, and a cookie. The cash register lady rang me up, and I went back to the table, where Lynn, Tess, and Fang were sitting.

"How do you always beat me?" I asked him. I was ahead of him earlier.

"I don't walk across the entire place to get five different things," He explained. sure enough, his plate just had water, three plates of chicken nuggets, and an orange.

"Sorry I like a little variety," I told him, and he smirked.

"Hello and how are you all on this lovely day?" Iggy asked, plopping his tray on the table.

"Fantastic, and you?" I asked back.

"Simply splendid my dear Max," He replied. We all started eating, and a few minutes later J.J. dramatically slammed her tray on the table. "Those lines are absolutely ridiculous! I was waiting five minutes to get into the checkout line! And I had to push about five freshmen out of my way to get milk," She sighed and sat down, rubbing her forehead.

Lynn patted her back sympathetically, "I know, they really need to make it bigger, you have to fight through the crowds to get anywhere, it also doesn't help that we're the biggest lunch."

"On the brighter side," Tess said, "Halloween's coming up, anyone know what they're going to be?"

"Ugh, absolutely no idea," I groaned. "Maybe I'll just be a ghost again." For the rest of lunch we discussed what we could be, pirates, zombies, unicorns (that one was Iggy) famous singers such as Taylor Swift or Nicki Minaj, animals,and finally, the topic that came up every year,

"Just because we're fifteen does not mean that we're too old for trick-or-treating!" J.J. said.

"Exactly, adults dress up and go to Halloween parties, so why shouldn't we be able to go trick-or-treating," Lynn added.

"I say that you're never too old for free candy," I announced.

"Yeah! Who would pass up a chance for candy?" Iggy asked.

"No one in their right mind, Ig," Tess replied.

"Yes. Candy is amazing! I mean, it can be sweet, sour, and many varieties of flavors!" I declared, munching on my nuggets.

"However, there is a certain age when it's not okay to trick-or-treat, because it would be kind of creepy if a twenty year old dressed up and came to your door," Lynn said.

"Agreed," J.J. told her. "I could just imagine my brother doing that and scaring children." We all laughed then got up to throw our stuff away.

The day practically flew by after that. I had no homework, which was an absolute miracle. I mean, c'mon. The first day back from a three-day weekend and we don't have homework or tests? That's like, one of the most beautiful things ever. The bus ride was entertaining. Iggy was crawling underneath the seats and randomly popping up, scaring people. The bus driver was completely oblivious.

Once Iggy finally calmed down and sat in the seat in front of Fang and I, he talked non-stop.

"So I think I'm going to be a bird for halloween, I mean, they have wings, which is really cool. Maybe a parrot, then I can say 'Iggy want candy.'" He did a parrot impersonation. "And they'll think it's so clever that they'll give me all their candy and then I'll have a year's supply of candy and-"

"Iggy, how much sugar did you have today?" Fang asked.

"Well, I had a brownie for breakfast, cookies and swedish fish at lunch, and a lollipop that Mr. Howell gave us, because you are never too old for lollipops."

I sighed, "Iggy, if you keep this up, you'll turn into Nudge, and I can't handle that, I think I'd explode."

"Fine, I'll stop talking, but only because I don't want Maxie to explode," He told me and turned to talk to the poor person in front of him.

I put my head on the back of Iggy's seat, suddenly exhausted.

Fang patted my back, "He can take a lot out of you." Yes, yes he most certainly can.

**A/N: Salutations! I know that this chapter was kinda lame, especially the ending, but I really tried! I just couldn't think of anything. I need to ask you guys something! Can you tell me what you want the Flock to be for Halloween? And if you want Max to go on the date with Sam, I'm guessing not. But please tell me, and don't forget to comment and question! Also, IMPORTANT NEWS! So that new story that I've been telling you about, is finally here! It's called Meeting of the Flocks, and I hope you read it! One more thing before I go. It's my friend's Llamasandsnickuhsbahrs birthday today! YAY! So, please tell her Happy Birthday, I know she'll appreciate it. Ok, BYE!**

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**(Does this look like a tiger? I tried...) **

**Volare su**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Ohmygoshness! I so do not want to do my homework. Ugh. Maybe Iggy, Fang, and I can work on it together, it would probably be more fun that way. I texted Iggy telling him that I'd be there in five minutes, and told Fang to come too.

I sort of felt like an idiot walking down the street with my backpack, but oh well. I reached Ig's house without too many strange stares. God, what's so strange about a teenage girl carrying her backpack around? They're the true weirdos. I walked in without knocking, which caused Iggy to jump up and grab a baseball bat that was nearby for some reason.

I held my hands up in the universal sign for surrender. "Whoa, it's just me, no need to beat me up with that... baseball bat?" I looked at him questioningly.

"Gazzy was practicing baseball and left it laying around," He explained sheepishly.

"Who did you think I was anyway? You knew I was coming over, and your door's unlocked, c'mon man." Fang had come to stand next to Iggy with a smirk on his face.

"He was expecting Jamie, not you."

"Oh god, not that again," I said, putting my head in my hands.

"Yeah," Iggy agreed with Fang with a smile, "I haven't seen Jamie in a while. I kinda miss her."

"If you don't stop talking about 'Jamie,'" I made quotation marks with my fingers, "I will leave and never talk to either of you again!"

"Wow, I didn't know you were such a drama llama," Iggy told me.

"Well, I do like llamas, but that's besides the point. It's homework time!" I pushed past them and went into the living room. As Fang and Iggy followed less enthusiastically, I put my backpack down and pulled my books out. "Ok, so we can do Bio, Spanish, Geometry, and English, since we have the same teachers."

They agreed and we got to work, sharing answers and helping each other. Let me tell you, it's a lot more fun and it's easier than working alone. We finished earlier than we, well, I, would have if I was working alone. The lack of random explosions helped.

As usual, Fang and I ended up walking home together, and sadly the conversation I sort of dreaded came up.

"Have you done anything about Ari and his friends yet?"

"Uh..." I haven't, because I actually forgot about it. I guess they're not a top priority right now, I've been busy with school-work.

"I'll take that as a 'no.' Max-" Fang looked slightly annoyed.

"I'm sorry! I've been busy and I don't even know where to go anyway, they don't go to our school, I could go to the police, but I don't have evidence..." I trailed off, leaving out two people I could tell.

"How about your parents?" I'm almost positive he can read my mind.

"I don't want to worry them-"

"They'll want you to tell them, look, if you don't tell them about it by Thursday, giving you two days, I'll come to your house and tell them myself." God, he's so determined.

"Fine, I guess they'd find out anyway," I sighed, and we walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence, which was actually only about two minutes. We said goodbye when Fang reached his house, and I faintly heard Sirius's barking from inside.

When I got home, I figured I'd get the whole telling my parents about Ari trying to beat me up, but me actually kicking his butt and only getting slightly hurt thing. But first I decided to get Nudge, because she knew about it too and maybe some help.

"Hey mom... I need to tell you something," I said when me and Nudge found her in the kitchen.

"Sure, whatever you want sweetie." She looked a little concerned, did I give myself away that easily? Anyway, I told her the whole story, starting from the beginning. It went like this.

So, when I was in eighth grade, I was justing hanging out in the park with Nudge and Ella, and I decided to take a walk because they were playing with kids their age. Then this kid, Ari, came up to me and started talking to me about something stupid. Anyway, I got annoyed and told him to leave me alone. But since he was bored and seemed to like to annoy me, he wouldn't leave.

Eventually, he got angry and grabbed my wrist, so I instinctively grabbed his and twisted his arm back behind him, which he didn't seem to like. We ended up fighting, sadly, I didn't win, but it was pretty close. Since then, we've only fought about four times, including that time at the concert. So, yeah.

By the time I had finished, mom looked pretty worried. Nudge thankfully decided to step in.

"It's ok mom, she never got hurt that bad, always just a few minor scrapes and bruises."

"But why didn't you tell me?" She looked both angry and concerned now.

"I didn't want you to get to worried," I replied in a small voice.

"Oh Max," She said and hugged me, "you can tell me anything, ok?"

"Yeah, I know," I mumbled into her shoulder.

"I'm going to have to report this," she told me.

"To whom? The police? They'll need evidence," I replied.

"I know, but we still should so if it happens again we can call back and they can look into it more," she explained.

"Ok," I decided it was time to change to subject, "What's for supper?"

"Spagetti and meatballs, hungry?" Mom replied, going along with the change of subject.

"Of course," I told her with a grin.

The rest over the evening passed quickly. Mom didn't tell Dad about Ari, which I wasn't complaining about. The day wasn't so great, but at least I got one thing done.

**A/N: Hey guys. Right, so I got some news... I think I'm gonna take a little break from this story, maybe about a month. I WILL FINISH IT! But I just truly cannot come up with any thing to write, and the last few chapters were pretty bad... In my opinion. I'm so sorry! But I'm going to use the time to catch up on my writing without having to worry about posting, so I don't rush and do a bad job. I will, however, continue to post Meeting of the Flocks, so you can read that. I'm so sorry, you guys have been great with reviews and everything. So, until January, I suppose. **

**Volare su**


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